LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
RIVERSIDE 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

OF 

WILLIAM  BARTON  ROGERS 

II' 

EDITED   BY   HIS  WIFE 


WITH     THE     ASSISTANCE 
OF  WILLIAM  T.  SEDGWICK 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES 
VOLUME   I 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 


1896 


Till 


Copyright,  1896, 
BT  EMMA  EOGEB8. 

All  rigUi  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Preu,  Cambridge,  Sfas*.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  0.  Hougtton  &  Co. 


PREFACE. 


THESE  volumes  have  been  prepared  in  the  hope 
that  Mr.  Rogers's  life,  work  and  character  as  re- 
vealed in  his  letters,  may  be  of  some  service  to  the 
cause  of  science  and  education,  and  especially  to  the 
officers,  graduates  and  students  of  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology,  to  whom  this  Memoir  is  ded- 
icated. Certain  subjects,  such  as  those  dealing  with 
educational  and  scientific  matters  or  with  the  early 
history  of  the  Institute,  have  accordingly  been  treated 
in  more  detail  than  would  otherwise  have  seemed 
desirable. 

No  life  of  Mr.  Rogers  would  be  in  any  degree  ade- 
quate which  did  not  include  much  of  the  lives  of  his 
three  brothers  who,  with  similar  tastes,  and  pursuits 
almost  identical  with  his  own,  occupied  so  large  a 
share  of  his  thought  and  affection. 

The  materials  at  command  have  been  voluminous, 
and  we  have  had  difficulty  in  making  the  necessary 
selections.  Many  of  the  letters  given  have  been  taken 
not  from  those  actually  sent,  but  from  a  first  draft 
which  was  kept  as  a  copy.  Our  aim  has  been  to  add 
to  the  letters  only  so  much  of  editorial  comment  as 
should  serve  to  make  a  connected  history.  The  geo- 
logical letters,  as  well  as  those  on  other  scientific 


iv  PREFACE. 

subjects,  axe  given  as  showing  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Rogers's  researches  rather  than  the  more  correct  con- 
clusions to  which  these  may  have  led. 

We  are  indebted  to  many  friends  for  permission  to 
use  letters;  to  others  for  aid  in  solving  doubts  and 
removing  difficulties ;  and,  for  the  careful  preservation 
of  documents,  to  Professor  S.  W.  Holman,  who  has 
long  had  in  contemplation  the  preparation  of  a  history 
of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


William  Barton  Rogers.  —  His  Brothers.  —  Hia  Father  Patrick 
Kerr  Rogers.  —  The  Rogers  Family  in  Ireland.  —  Emigration 
of  Patrick  Kerr  Rogers  to  America.  —  His  Life  in  Philadel- 
phia. —  His  Marriage.  —  Removal  to  Baltimore.  —  Appoint- 
ment to  the  Professorship  of  Natural  Philosophy  and  Chemistry 
in  William  and  Mary  College.  — His  Death  in  1828 1 

CHAPTER  H. 

YOUTH  AND   KAKLY  MANHOOD. 
1804-1828. 

The  Family  Life  in  Baltimore.  —  Education  of  the  Brothers  and 
their  Graduation  from  William  and  Mary.  —  Their  Early  Cor- 
respondence. —  William's  Youthful  Oration. —  He  assists  his 
Father  at  the  College.  —  Removal  of  the  Brothers  to  Balti- 
more. —  William  and  Henry  open  a  School.  —  Their  Lectures 
before  the  Maryland  Institute.  —  Correspondence  with  their 
Father.  — An  Address  by  P.  K.  Rogers.  —  First  Railroads  in 
America.  —  Reminiscences  of  the  Father  by  a  Student  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  14 

CHAPTER  HI. 

PROFESSOR    OF     NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY     AND     CHEMISTRY  AT     WIL- 
LIAM AND  MARY  COLLEGE. 

1828-1835. 

William  succeeds  his  Father.  —  His  Introductory  Address.  — 
Correspondence  of  the  Brothers.  —  Life  in  Williamsburg.  — 
Henry  appointed  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  Philoso- 
phy in  Dickinson  College.  —  James  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  a 
Baltimore  Medical  College.  —  His  Marriage. — Henry  leaves 
Dickinson  College.  —  With  Robert,  is  engaged  on  Railroad  Sur- 


vi  CONTENTS. 

veys  in  New  England.  —  The  Cholera.  —  William  visits  North 
Carolina.  —  Narrowly  escapes  Drowning.  —  Henry  visits  Eng- 
land. —  His  Impressions  of  English  Men  of  Science.  —  He 
returns  to  Philadelphia  and  lectures  on  Geology  at  the  Frank- 
lin Institute.  —  Geological  and  Chemical  Investigations  of  the 
Brothers.  —  Henry  appointed  Professor  in  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  —  Proposals  for  Geological  Surveys.  —  Appoint- 
ment of  William  to  a  Professorship  in  the  University  of  Vir- 
in  u  in  ••••»••••*•**••  ••••••  Oo 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PROFESSOR     OF    NATURAL    PHILOSOPHY    IN     THE     UNIVERSITY    AND 
DIRECTOR  OF  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA. 

1835-1842. 

The  University  of  Virginia.  —  William  appointed  State  Geolo- 
gist. —  First  Report.  —  Lack  of  Assistants.  —  Henry  Geologist 
of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  —  Robert  graduates  in  Med- 
icine.—  Disturbances  in  the  University  of  Virginia.  —  James 
Professor  of  Chemistry  in  Cincinnati.  —  Formation  of  the  As- 
sociation of  American  Geologists  and  Naturalists. — Student 
Riots.  —  Opposition  to  Geological  Surveys.  —  Chemical  Analy- 
sis. —  Ill-health.  —  The  National  Association  for  the  Promo- 
tion of  Science.  —  Beginnings  of  the  Smithsonian.  —  Discovery 
of  Infusorial  Earth.  —  Chairman  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Uni- 
versity killed  by  a  Student.  —  Vain  Efforts  to  save  the  Survey 
of  Virginia.  —  Henry  presides  at  the  Second  Meeting  of  Geolo- 
gists and  Naturalists  in  Philadelphia.  —  Removal  of  James  to 
Philadelphia.  —  Lyell  visits  America.  — A  Journey  to  New 
England.  —  Geological  Discussions.  —  William  and  Henry  pre- 
sent their  Memoir  on  the  Physical  Structure  of  the  Appala- 
chian Chain,  at  the  Third  Meeting  of  Geologists  and  Naturalists 
in  Boston 121 

CHAPTER  V. 

PROFESSOR  OF    NATURAL    PHILOSOPHY  AND  FOR   ONE   YEAR  CHAIR- 
MAN OF  THE   FACULTY  IN   THE  UNIVERSITY  OF   VIRGINIA. 

1842-1846. 

Robert  appointed  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Materia  Medica  in 
the  University  of  Virginia.  —  His  Marriage.  —  Henry  presides 
at  Fourth  Annual  Meeting  of  Geologists  and  Naturalists  in 
Albany.  — He  lectures  on  Geology  in  Boston.  —  Fifth  Meet- 
ing of  Geologists  and  Naturalists  in  Washington.  —  William 


CONTENTS.  vii 

and  Henry  elected  Foreign  Members  of  the  Geological  Society 
of  London.  —  Henry  gives  a  Course  of  Lowell  Lectures  in 
Boston.  — William  Chairman  of  the  Faculty  of  the  University 
of  Virginia.  —  Attack  upon  the  University  in  the  Legisla- 
ture. —  His  Defence  of  the  University.  —An  Educational  Doc- 
ument. —  Student  Riots.  —  Ill-health.  —  A  Visit  to  Lake  Supe- 
rior. —  Henry  removes  to  Boston.  —  Second  Visit  of  Lyell  to 
America. — James  and  Robert  edit  "Turner's  Chemistry."  — 
—  Plans  of  William  and  Henry  for  a  Polytechnic  School  in 
Boston.  —  A  Summer  Journey  in  New  England 213 

CHAPTER  VI. 

PBOFB880B  OF  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY  AND  FOR  ONE  YEAR  CHAIR- 
MAN OF  THB  FACULTY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA  (con- 
tinued). 

1846-1853. 

Arrival  of  Agassiz  in  America. — Foundation  of  Scientific  Schools 
in  Harvard  and  Yale. — Seventh  Annual  Meeting  of  Geologists 
and  Naturalists  in  Boston  with  Mr.  Rogers  Chairman.  — James 
appointed  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania.—  William  proposes  to  resign  his  Professorship  and 
join  Henry  in  Boston.  —  Degree  of  LL.  D.  from  Hampden- 
Sidney  College.  —  Organization  of  the  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  —  Henry  again  visits  Eu- 
rope. —  His  Letters.  —  He  returns  and  lectures  in  the  Lowell 
Institute.  —  Death  of  James  Rogers  the  Uncle.  —  William 
invited  to  lecture  at  the  Smithsonian.  —  His  Marriage.  — 
Journey  to  Europe.  —  Birmingham  Meeting  of  the  British 
Association.  —  Return  to  the  University  of  Virginia.  —  Dr. 
Wayland  of  Brown  Visits  the  University.  —  Kossuth's  Visit  to 
America.  —  Illness  and  Death  of  James.  —  Robert  appointed 


CHAPTER  VH. 

FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON. 

1853-1859. 

Removal  to  Boston.  —  Final  Effort  and  Failure  to  secure  Pub- 
lication of  Geological  Report.  — An  Address  at  Williams 
College. —  Henry's  Marriage.  —  William's  Investigations  on 
Binocular  Vision,  Sonorous  Flames,  Ozone,  etc.  —  Ill-health.  — 
Lectures  in  the  Lowell  Institute.  —  Removal  of  Henry  and  his 
Family  to  Scotland.  —  William  again  visits  Europe.  —  Dublin 


viii  CONTENTS. 

Meeting  of  the  British  Association.  —  A  Serious  Accident.  — 
Kind  Friends  in  Norwich.  —  Politics.  —  Henry  appointed  Re- 
gius Professor  of  Natural  History  and  Geology  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Glasgow.  — Elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.— 
Illness  of  Theodore  Parker 333 

APPENDIX. 

A.  Report  from  the  Committee  of  Schools  and  Colleges  [of  the 
Legislature  of  Virginia]  against  the  Expediency  of  Withdraw- 
ing the  Fifteen  Thousand  Dollars  Annuity  from  the  Univer- 
sity [of  Virginia].     (Prepared  by  William  B.  Rogers)      ...  399 

B.  Student  Riots  in  the  University  of  Virginia.     (A  Circular 
Letter  prepared  and  issued  by  William  B.  Rogers,  Chairman 

of  the  Faculty) 413 

C.  A  Plan  for  a  Polytechnic  School  in  Boston 420 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Portrait  of  William  Barton  Rogers.    From  a  photograph  taken 
in  1882          .        «.        .        .        .        .        .    '      Frontispiece. 

A  Student's  "Report  of  Standing"  from  William  and  Mary 

College  (facsimile) 18 

View  of  William  and  Mary  College         .        .        .        .        .          64 

Seal  of  William  and  Mary  College       .        .        .        .        .        .120 

The  University  of  Virginia  (Rotunda  and  Lawn)     ...         122 
The  House  at  Sunny  Hill  (Lunenburg,  Mass.)    .        .        .        .272 

A  View  from  Sunny  Hill  (looking  southwest) ....        286 

Portrait  of  James  Blythe  Rogers         .         .        .        .        .        .324 

Seal  of  the  University  of  Virginia 332 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF 
WILLIAM  BARTON  ROGERS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ANCESTRY. 

William  Barton  Rogers.  —  His  Brothers.  —  His  Father  Patrick  Kerr 
Rogers.  —  The  Rogers  Family  in  Ireland.  —  Emigration  of  Patrick 
Kerr  Rogers  to  America.  —  His  Life  in  Philadelphia.  —  His  Mar- 
riage. —  Removal  to  Baltimore.  —  Appointment  to  the  Professor- 
ship of  Natural  Philosophy  and  Chemistry  in  William  and  Mary 
College.  —  His  Death  in  1828. 

WILLIAM  BARTON  ROGERS  was  born  in  Phila- 
delphia on  the  7th  of  December,  1804.  His  father 
was  Patrick  Kerr  Rogers,  afterwards  Professor  of 
Natural  Philosophy  and  Chemistry  in  William  and 
Mary  College  at  Williamsburg,  Va.  His  mother  was 
Hannah  Blythe,  who  died  in  Williamsburg  in  1820  and 
left  four  sons  between  the  ages  of  seven  and  eighteen. 
Of  these  the  eldest  was  James  Blythe,  and  the  second 
William  Barton,  the  subject  of  this  memoir.  The  third 
son  was  Henry  Darwin,  who  owed  his  middle  name 
to  the  esteem  of  his  father  for  Erasmus  Darwin,  grand- 
father of  the  famous  author  of  "The  Origin  of  Spe- 
cies." The  fourth  son  was  Robert,  who  afterwards 
assumed  the  middle  name  of  Empie  out  of  regard  for 
the  Rev.  Adam  Empie,  for  several  years  President  of 
William  and  Mary  College. 


2  ANCESTRY. 

These  four  sons  of  Patrick  Kerr  Eogers  and  Han> 
nah  Blythe  all  achieved  distinction  in  science.  They 
are  often  referred  to  as  "the  brothers  Rogers." 
They  were  all  Americans  by  birth  and  education, 
but  their  ancestry  was  a  blending  of  Irish,  Scotch 
and  English.  Their  father  came  from  the  North  of 
Ireland  not  far  from  Londonderry.  He  was  born 
in  1776,  the  eldest  son  of  Robert  Rogers  of  Edergole. 

"  Robert  Rogers,  the  fourth  of  the  name  in  lineal 
descent,  was  born  about  the  year  1753,  and  lived  on  the 
Edergole  or  Knockbrack  estate,  which  he  owned  in 
fee,  and  held,  on  lease,  acres  of  land  adjoining.  This 
estate  lies  between  Omagh  and  Fintano,  in  Tyrone 
County,  Ireland.  Newtown  Stewart,  in  the  barony  of 
Strabane,  then  a  good  market  for  cloth  and  yarn,1  ten 
miles  off,  is  the  nearest  town,  and  Londonderry,  forty 
miles  distant,  the  nearest  city.  The  number  of  his 
tenants,  or  extent  of  acreage  held  by  him,  is  not  now 
known.  His  social  grade  in  the  community  is  not  in- 
dicated by  his  estate  alone.  When  the  Presbyterian 
Church  which  he  attended  was  reconstructed,  he  re- 
built and  furnished  anew  the  large  central  pew  which 
he  had  inherited.  He  was  disposed  to  favour  what  was 
then  termed  the  New-Light  doctrine,  but  tolerant 
enough  to  listen  to  the  religious  and  political  opinions 
ascribed  to  the  French  philosophers. 

"  In  the  small  villages  and  rural  districts  of  Ireland 
at  that  period  —  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago  — 
those  whose  wardrobe  was  limited  to  a  single  suit  and 
an  extra  shirt  or  two  (and  they  were  largely  in  the  ma- 
jority there,  as  well  as  everywhere)  determined  social 
position  in  the  community  by  the  interval  between  the 
family  wash-days.  In  their  estimation,  those  whose 
wardrobe  was  extensive  enough  to  have  their  washing 
done  once  a  year  constituted  the  '  great  families,'  and 

1  Statistical  Survey  of  the  County  of  Tyrone  for  1801-1802.  by  John 
McEvoy.  Dublin,  1802. 


THE  ROGERS  FAMILY.  3 

those  who  needed  to  have  a  family  wash-day  every  six 
months  composed  the  second  class  in  society.  The 
washing  of  the  Rogers  family  was  done  but  twice  a 
year  by  the  house-women  and  tenants  at  the  brook 
which  flows  through  the  estate. 

"  In  the  winter  of  1774-75,  when  twenty-one  years 
old,  Robert  Rogers  married  Sarah  Kerr,  of  about  the 
same  age,  who,  tradition  avers,  was  sprightly,  conspic- 
uous in  conversation,  and  ever  ready  to  discuss  and 
advocate  the  New-Light  doctrines  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  of  which  she  was  a  member.  This  marriage 
had  been  delayed  a  year  by  her  father,  a  recognized 
'  gentleman '  in  the  community,  who  insisted  that 
Robert  Rogers  must  attain  his  majority  before  he 
could  lawfully  make  a  marriage  settlement  of  all  his 
lands  upon  the  children  of  this  union  in  equal  shares, 
and  that  without  compliance  with  this  stipulation  his 
assent  would  not  be  given. 

"  Robert  Rogers  was  a  well-to-do  Irish  gentleman,  lib- 
eral in  his  views,  hospitable,  convivial  and  duly  appre- 
ciative of  education  and  learning."  l 

He  was  himself  the  youngest  son  of  Robert  Rogers 
of  Edergole,  who  died  about  1772.  The  last  will  of 
the  latter,  dated  June  14,  1769,  is  still  extant,  and 
from  this  it  appears  that  his  eldest  son  was  James ; 
his  youngest,  as  already  stated,  Robert;  and  his 
daughters,  Elizabeth,  Mary,  Jean  and  Margaret. 
His  land  fell  to  the  two  sons,  Robert  retaining  one 
portion,  and  James  that  part  known  as  Knockbrack 
and  Sheep-hill.  A  document  has  been  preserved 
showing  that  on  November  8,  1786,  James  leased 
Knockbrack  to  his  brother  Robert  for  sixty-one  years, 

1  Memorial  of  the  Brothers  Bogers,  read  before  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society  of  Philadelphia,  November  6,  1885.  By  W.  S.  W. 
Ruschenberger,  M.  D.  Dr.  Ruschenberger  obtained  these  facts  from 
Mr.  Alexander  Rogers  of  Baltimore,  a  cousin  of  W.  B.  Rogers. 


4  ANCESTRY. 

at  an  annual  rental  of  .£24  7s.  Qd.  Concerning  the 
Rogers  family,  it  is  further  stated 

"that,  prior  to  the  year  1641,  they  preserved  the 
Bowling  Green  of  Strabane  and  four  townlands  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Fin  (their  title  was  lodged  in  the 
castle  of  Strabane  when  burned  by  the  O'Neils  about 
1642)  ;  that,  in  the  troubles  which  afterwards  ensued, 
they  went  to  Lanarkshire,  in  Scotland ;  that  about 
the  year  1650  one  brother,  named  William,  returned 
and  settled  at  Edergole,  near  Ballinahatty.  He  is 
known  to  have  had  four  sons,  namely,  James,  John, 
William  and  Alexander.  John  had  sons,  John  (who 
got  the  family  place  at  Edergole),  William  (who  got 
Scotch  Drum  and  Lower  Edergole)  and  Alexander."1 

The  life  of  Patrick  Kerr  Rogers,  father  of  William 
Barton  Rogers,  is  full  of  interest. 

"  He  was  the  firstborn,  in  1776,  of  the  twelve  chil- 
dren of  Robert  Rogers  and  his  wife  Sarah  Kerr.  Four 
of  them  died  in  infancy.  The  rudiments  of  Patrick's 
education  were  received  in  a  schoolhouse  built  upon 
the  estate.  It  is  described  as  having  had  clay  walls, 
a  thatched  roof,  clay  seats  covered  with  bits  of  carpet, 
and  as  warmed  by  a  turf  fire.  The  teacher  was  a 
lame  rustic  boy,  whom  his  aunt,  Margaret  Rogers,  a 
lady  of  notable  intelligence,  had  trained  for  the  office. 
His  classical  learning  was  acquired  under  the  tuition 
of  an  uncle,  a  clergyman.  His  mother  died  in  1790, 
and  his  father  married,  in  1791,  a  second  wife  who 
bore  him  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 

"  At  the  age  when  he  should  choose  a  profession  he 
found  himself  one  of  a  numerous  family  of  brothers 
and  sisters,  and,  though  the  eldest,  without  the  right 
of  primogeniture  in  his  father's  estate.  Entertaining 

1  Letter  of  Andrew  Rogers,  at  Glenfern,  to  John  Rogers  at  Glen- 
nock,  Newtown  Stewart,  and  by  him  forwarded  to  W.  B.  Rogers,  at 
Boston,  September,  1858. 


PATRICK  KERR  ROGERS.  5 

opinions  not  rigidly  orthodox,  he  was  unwilling  to 
enter  the  clerical  profession,  though  he  had  the  exam- 
ple of  two  uncles.  At  the  time,  a  commercial  career 
seemed  best,  and  he  therefore  entered  a  counting- 
house  in  Dublin.  How  long  he  lived  there,  or  was 
thus  employed,  has  not  been  ascertained.  But  about 
the  time  of  the  Irish  Rebellion,  which  broke  out  in 
May,  1798,  he  contributed  to  Dublin  newspapers  ar- 
ticles hostile  to  the  government  which,  his  friends 
believed,  were  likely  to  cause  his  arrest."  * 

A  kinsman,  Alexander  Rogers  of  Hill-head,  having 
supplied  the  necessary  means,  he  fled  to  Londonderry 
and  sailed  for  America,  arriving  in  Philadelphia,  after 
a  passage  of  eighty-four  days,  in  August,  1798.  At 
that  time  there  were  many  Irish  refugees  in  Philadel- 
phia. Mr.  Rogers  evidently  made  his  way  rapidly, 
for  only  a  few  months  afterwards  we  find  him  ap- 
pointed as  a  tutor  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

In  the  winter  of  1799  he  was  admitted  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Hospital  as  a  student  of  the  eminent 
Drs.  Benjamin  Smith  Barton  and  Benjamin  Rush, 
and  to  certain  medical  lectures  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  by  Drs.  Shippen  and  Wistar.  He  at- 
tended also  lectures  on  chemistry  in  1799  and  1800  by 
Dr.  James  Woodhouse.  During  these  years  a  warm 
friendship  existed  between  him  and  his  preceptor,  Dr. 
Barton,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his  graduating  thesis, 
and  after  whom  he  named  his  second  sou  William 
Barton  Rogers.  While  still  in  the  medical  school  he 
was  married,  January  2, 1801,  to  Hannah  Blythe,  "  an 
intelligent  woman,  a  year  older  than  himself,  endowed 
with  a  cheerful  and  affectionate  disposition." 

"  Patrick  K.  Rogers  is  described  as  a  tall,  erect 

1  Ruschenberger. 


6  ANCESTRY. 

man,  of  grave  deportment,  having  dark  hair  well 
sprinkled  with  gray,  and  soft,  sleepy  eyes.  He  played 
the  violin  and  sang  well,  but  never  in  company,  or  in 
the  presence  of  strangers,  because  such  performance 
or  display  seemed  to  him  inconsistent  with  the  dignity 
of  a  gentleman. 

"Hannah  Blythe  was  the  youngest  daughter  of 
James  Blythe,  a  native  of  Glasgow  but  a  resident 
of  Londonderry,  and  his  wife  Bessie,  a  daughter  of 
James  Bell,  a  mathematical-instrument  maker  and 
an  English  citizen  of  Londonderry.  James  Blythe 
was  a  publisher  and  stationer.  He  founded,  in  1772, 
the  '  Londonderry  Journal,'  the  first  tri-weekly  paper 
printed  in  the  North  of  Ireland.  It  became  a  daily, 
and  is  still  published.  .  .  .  The  paper  was  printed 
and  issued  from  the  house  in  which  he  lived.  His 
daughter,  Mrs.  Ramsay,  who  died  in  Baltimore  at  the 
advanced  age  of  ninety-two  years,  often  mentioned, 
among  the  reminiscences  of  her  early  childhood,  the 
gathering  of  a  crowd  reading  a  placard  on  the  front 
of  their  house,  headed  *  BLOODY  NEWS  FROM  AMER- 
ICA,' announcing  the  battle  of  Lexington,  April,  1775. 
She  also  stated  that  many  Protestant  citizens  rejoiced 
over  this  resistance  of  Americans  to  the  British  rule. 

"  James  Blythe  died  in  1787,  leaving  a  widow  and 
three  daughters,  Elizabeth,  Mary  Ann  and  Hannah. 
The  widow,  Bessie  Bell,  who  was  an  intelligent  and 
energetic  woman,  removed  to  Strabane,  about  fifteen 
miles  southward  from  Londonderry,  took  into  part- 
nership a  foreman  from  the  old  establishment,  and  set 
up  and  conducted  a  newspaper  till  she  died  in  1794. 
The  business  was  unprofitable.  The  daughters  were 
left  without  support.  They  promptly  determined  to 
emigrate,  embarked  in  a  ship  belonging  to  their 
cousin,  Adam  Crampton,  of  Londonderry,  and,  after 
a  voyage  of  three  months,  arrived  in  Philadelphia. 
They  were  received  by  their  cousin,  wife  of  Thomas 
Moore,  merchant,  who  had  left  Coleraine  some  time 
before  on  account  of  his  affiliation  with  the  '  United 


ARRIVAL  IN  AMERICA.  7 

Irishmen.'  These  daughters  are  described  as  active, 
intelligent  women,  and  being,  like  most  ladies  of  that 
period,  proficient  in  the  use  of  the  needle,  with  it 
supported  themselves  respectably  and  independently. 
"In  May,  1802,  Mr.  P.  K.  Rogers  received  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  from  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  His  thesis  on  Liriodendron  tulipi- 
fera  (the  tulip-tree),  in  which  he  records  the  results 
of  experimental  observations  of  its  chemical  and  ther- 
apeutic properties,  was  printed  and  is  extant.  A 
son,  James  Blythe,  the  eldest  of  the  brothers  Rog- 
ers, was  born  in  Philadelphia,  February  11,  1802. 
The  city  directory  for  1802  states  that  P.  K.  Rogers, 
M.  D.,  lived  at  No.  55  Lombard  Street,  implying  that 
he  had  established  a  home  for  himself  very  soon  after 
his  marriage."  * 

In  1803  Robert  Rogers,  the  father  of  Patrick  and 
grandfather  of  William  Barton  Rogers,  died,  and  Dr. 
P.  K.  Rogers,  being  the  eldest  son,  returned  in  the 
same  year  to  Ireland  to  adjust  the  family  affairs.  This 
duty  occupied  nearly  a  year,  after  which  he  returned 
to  Philadelphia,  bringing  with  him  two  of  his  younger 
brothers.  Among  his  papers  is  a  ticket  to  a  medical 
course  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  dated  1805, 
and  bearing  the  name  of  Mr.  Frederick  Rogers.  This 
may  have  been  one  of  these  brothers.  Meanwhile  his 
second  son,  William  Barton  Rogers,  was  born.  At 
this  time  the  family  was  living  at  262  North  Second 
Street,  probably  between  Vine  and  Callow  Hill  streets, 
and  the  family  fortunes  were  at  a  low  ebb.  Among 
Dr.  P.  K.  Rogers's  papers  is  a  brief  autobiographical 
statement  which,  unfortunately,  is  limited  to  this  period 
of  his  life  and  the  trying  years  which  followed.  The 
paper,  which  bears  no  date,  and  begins  and  ends 

1  Ruschenberger. 


8  ANCESTRY. 

abruptly,  was  apparently  written  in  Baltimore  about 
1817.     It  is  as  follows :  -— 

"  In  the  year  1803  I  was  engaged  in  full  business 
in  Philadelphia  as  a  physician,  and  the  products  of 
my  practice  were  more  than  equal  to  my  current  ex- 
penses. But  I  was  encumbered  with  small  debts  to  a 
considerable  aggregate  amount,  perhaps  three  thou- 
sand dollars,  gradually  contracted  during  the  first 
years  of  my  professional  and  family  establishment. 
My  father  dying  in  1803,  I  thought  it  important  to 
go  to  Ireland  to  adjust  family  affairs,  and  to  obtain 
that  share  of  property  to  which  I  was  entitled.  I  was 
barely  able  to  bring  to  Philadelphia,  after  an  absence 
of  almost  a  year,  as  much  money  as  paid  my  debt. 
This  agreeable  business  I  performed  promptly,  and 
when  done  I  had  neither  money  nor  an  establishment. 

"It  being  difficult  in  the  medical  profession  to 
make  a  second  beginning  in  the  same  place  (and  I 
was  wedded  to  the  place  by  a  thousand  attachments), 
I  was  never  able  afterwards  to  procure  a  share  of 
business  equal  to  the  expenses  of  my  family,  however 
moderated.  Other  aids  were  sought  to  make  good  the 
deficiency,  but  they  only  served  to  involve  me  more 
rapidly  in  debt. 

"  A  medical  library  appeared  to  be  a  thing  wanted 
at  the  seat  of  medical  learning.  Some  respectable 
booksellers  advised  me  to  undertake  the  enterprise  as 
one  not  calculated  to  interrupt  my  professional  exer- 
tions in  any  great  degree.  They  were  sanguine  and 
liberal  in  aiding  this  establishment,  and  several  thou- 
sand volumes  were  speedily  arranged.  The  library 
was  not  supported,  and  in  less  than  two  years  I 
begged  to  return  the  books  as  the  only  measure  that 
would  enable  me  to  do  them  any  degree  of  justice. 
Many  of  the  works  were  more  valuable  than  salable ; 
all  were  said  to  be  somewhat  injured.  Except  about 
two  hundred  volumes,  all  were  returned,  and  I  allowed 
the  booksellers  damages.  The  library  room,  fixtures, 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES.  9 

damages  and  contingent  expenses  left  me  in  debt  at 
least  four  thousand  dollars. 

"  Previous  to  and  during  these  transactions,  I  was 
engaged  in  giving  lectures  on  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine, in  the  winter  season,  yearly.  On  the  death  of 
Dr.  Woodhouse,  I  applied  for  the  chemical  chair  in 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  but  I  had  not  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  patrons  in  the  board  of  trustees.  My 
scientific  friends  thought  I  had  a  claim  more  just  and 
reasonable  than  that  which  is  founded  on  family  con- 
nections, and  accordingly  they  urged  me  to  relinquish 
the  practical  lectures,  and  prepare  a  full  course  on 
chemistry  for  a  popular  audience.1  I  complied.  Ap- 
paratus, and  the  appropriation  of  much  time  to  experi- 
ments for  demonstration,  involved  me  in  more  debt 
and  undermined  my  practice.  For  some  years  I  expe- 
rienced the  most  pungent  anxiety  on  account  of  my 
circumstances.  Sensibility  to  reputation,  and  the  dread 
of  a  species  of  disgrace  attached  to  insolvent  persons, 
prevented  me  from  seeking  relief  in  the  humane  and 
benevolent  institutes  of  our  country. 

"  Several  of  my  creditors,  interested  for  my  happi- 
ness and  the  welfare  of  my  family,  advised  me  to 
remove  to  Baltimore  or  New  York  and  resume  the 
exercise  of  my  profession,  believing  I  would  not 
be  harassed,  as  the  more  importunate  had  already 
stripped  me  of  effects.  I  was  left  without  even  the 
necessary  accommodations  for  a  house  and  family,  as 
furniture  and  kitchen  utensils. 

"  In  Baltimore  I  have  sought  repose  of  mind  and 
subsistence  for  my  family.  The  latter  I  have  found ; 
the  former  has,  during  more  than  four  years'  residence 
in  this  city,  been  interrupted  only  by  the  importuni- 
ties and  suits  of  my  Philadelphia  creditors.  I  again 
feel  the  terrible  condition  of  a  debtor  destitute  of 

1  Perhaps  the  first  series  of  popular  lectures  on  chemistry  given 
in  this  country,  —  certainly  the  first,  or  one  of  the  first,  to  which 
ladies  were  admitted. 


10  ANCESTRY. 

resources,  while  looked  to  by  a  numerous  family  for 
support. 

"  A  considerable  part  of  my  debt  was  contracted 
with  friends,  —  real  friends,  who  never  intended  to 
coerce,  much  less  distress  me.  Some  of  them  are  no 
more,  and  their  descendants  are  not  at  liberty  to  act 
as  the  deceased  would  have  done.  Others  have  failed 
in  trade,  and  their  claims  have  passed  into  the  hands 
of  trustees  for  the  benefit  of  their  creditors.  From 
either  class  of  original  creditors  or  their  successors  it 
is  now  impossible  to  obtain  assent  to  a  general  re- 


During  these  years  three  children  were  born,  —  a 
third  son,  Henry  Darwin,  August  1,  1808,  and  two 
daughters,  both  of  whom  died  in  infancy. 

In  1808  the  family  lived  at  205  Mulberry  (now 
Arch)  Street,  Philadelphia.  From  1809  to  1812  they 
lived  at  13  South  Ninth  Street,  where  they  remained 
until  their  removal  to  Baltimore.  The  fourth  son, 
Robert,  was  born  in  Baltimore,  March  29,  1813.  A 
fifth  son,  Alexander,  born  May  4,  1815,  died  a  few 
years  later. 

In  1810  Dr.  Rogers  published  an  outline  of  a 
course  of  lectures  entitled  "  A  Syllabus  of  a  Course  of 
Lectures  on  Natural  Philosophy  and  Chemistry,  with 
the  Application  of  the  Latter  to  Several  of  the  Arts." 

"  It  may  not  be  improper  for  me  to  mention  that 
between  the  years  1808  and  1811  I  delivered  several 
courses  of  lectures  on  chemistry  and  natural  philo- 
sophy in  Philadelphia,  some  of  which  were  attended 
throughout  (no  doubt  for  amusement,  or  from  cour- 
teous or  friendly  motives)  by  the  director  of  the  mint, 
Robert  Patterson,  and  several  of  the  professors  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania."  1 

1  Letter  of  P.  K.  Rogers  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  May  21,  1819. 


LETTER  FROM  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.       11 

Dr.  Rogers  removed  to  Baltimore  about  the  end  of 
1812. 

"At  first  lie  lived  at  15  Market  Street,  Fell's 
Point,  where  he  had  an  apothecary's  shop,  and  subse- 
quently at  68  South  Charles  Street.  He  was  elected 
physician  of  the  Hibernian  Society  in  1816.  The 
same  year  it  was  charged  that  '  Dr.  P.  K.  Rogers,  at 
Fell's  Point,  persists  in  the  use  of  variolous  matter  in 
preference  to  vaccine,  against  the  public  remonstrance 
of  Dr.  James  Smith.' l  The  controversy  on  this  ques- 
tion carried  on  in  the  newspapers  was  detrimental  to 
his  professional  business."  2 

It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  his  opinions  on 
vaccination  did  him  lasting  injury,  for  on  June  7, 
1819,  he  was  elected  by  the  Maryland  Medico-Chi- 
rurgical  Society  their  "orator"  for  the  next  year, 
1820. 

In  the  letter  of  May  21,  1819,  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made,  Dr.  P.  K.  Rogers  applied  to 
Thomas  Jefferson  for  a  professorship  in  the  newly 
established  University  of  Virginia.  He  received  from 
Mr.  Jefferson  the  following  reply  :  — 

THOMAS   JEFFERSON   TO   PATRICK   KERR   ROGERS. 

MONTICELLO,  June  23,  1819. 

SIR,  —  Your  favour  of  May  21  was  received  in  due 
time.  The  Visitors  of  the  University  of  Virginia  had 
determined  at  their  meeting  in  March  that  it  was  not 
expedient  to  divert  any  of  its  funds  from  building 
during  the  present  year,  but  that  propositions  should 
be  made,  and  an  engagement  entered  into  with  Dr. 
Cooper,  to  undertake  the  Professorship  of  Natural  Phi- 
losophy, Chemistry,  and  Mineralogy,  as  also  that  of 

1  Medical  Annals  of  Baltimore,  by  John  K.  Quinan,  M.  D.,  Svo,  pp. 
274,  Baltimore,  1884. 

2  Ruschenberger. 


12  ANCESTRY. 

Law,  and  to  open  these  schools  in  April  next.  The 
probable  impracticability  of  providing  buildings  this 
season  for  the  other  professorships  induced  them  to 
expect  that  another  year  would  be  necessary  for  that 
object,  and  that  a  general  opening  of  the  University 
would  have  to  be  postponed  till  1821.  It  is  now 
visible  that  the  slow  progress  of  building  will  produce 
the  delay  they  apprehended.  I  am  sorry,  therefore, 
that  this  state  of  things,  and  the  anticipation  of  the 
appointment  of  a  professor  to  the  school  you  desired, 
leave  no  room  for  availing  the  University  of  the  offer 
of  services  you  have  been  pleased  to  tender.  Accept, 
pray,  the  assurance  of  my  great  respect. 

TH:  JEFFERSON. 

"In  1819  his  qualifications  and  capacity  to  teach 
were  recognized,  and  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Natu- 
ral Philosophy  and  Chemistry  in  the  ancient  College 
of  William  and  Mary  (founded  at  Williamsburg,  Va., 
in  1692),  in  place  of  Dr.  Robert  Hare,  resigned.  Dr. 
Rogers  left  Baltimore  in  October,  1819,  and  was  soon 
settled  with  his  wife  and  boys  in  the  Brafferton  House, 
on  the  college  campus.  He  was  earnest  in  his  work. 
He  made  all  the  apparatus  required  to  illustrate  his 
lectures.  In  this  making  and  mending  he  was  ha- 
bitually aided  by  his  sons,  who  thus  acquired  unusual 
facility  in  the  use  of  tools  for  working  wood  and 
metals." l 

During  the  summer  of  1820,  after  the  close  of  the 
session  of  the  college  on  July  4,  Mrs.  Rogers  was  at- 
tacked with  malarial  fever  and  died.  To  avoid  this 
fever,  which  always  prevailed  in  that  locality  during 
the  summer,  Dr.  Rogers  usually  left  Williamsburg 
as  soon  after  the  close  of  the  term  as  practicable. 
Eight  years  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  having  come 
northward  for  the  college  vacation,  he  was  seized  with 
1  Ruschenberger. 


DEATH  OF  THE  PARENTS.  13 

malarial  fever  and  died,  at  Ellicott  Mills,  Md.,  Au- 
gust 1,  1828,  in  the  fifty-second  year  of  his  age. 
The  reverence  and  affection  with  which  the  brothers 
regarded  their  father  and  the  influence  of  his  some- 
what remarkable  and  unique  character  are  more 
fully  illustrated  by  incidents  dwelt  upon  in  the  next 
chapter.  Of  the  life  and  character  of  their  mother, 
who  died  before  the  sons  had  attained  maturity,  pleas- 
ant traditions  alone  remain. 


CHAPTER  II. 
YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD. 

1804-1828. 

The  Family  Life  in  Baltimore.  —  Education  of  the  Brothers  and  their 
Graduation  from  William  and  Mary. —  Their  Early  Correspondence. 
—  William's  Youthful  Oration.  —  He  assists  his  Father  at  the 
College.  —  Removal  of  the  Brothers  to  Baltimore.  —  William  and 
Henry  open  a  School.  —  Their  Lectures  hef ore  the  Maryland  Insti- 
tute. —  Correspondence  with  their  Father.  —An  Address  by  P.  K. 
Rogers.  —  First  Railroads  in  America.  —  Reminiscences  of  the  Fa- 
ther by  a  Student  of  William  and  Mary. 

LITTLE  is  known  of  the  childhood  or  boyhood  of 
William  Barton  Rogers  or  of  his  brothers.  When  Dr. 
P.  K.  Rogers  left  Philadelphia  and  removed  to  Balti- 
more in  1812,  James,  the  eldest,  was  eleven,  and  the 
second  son,  William,  only  eight  years  old.  The  family 
life  appears  to  have  been  a  hard  struggle  with  poverty 
and  debt,  and  the  boys  had  few  luxuries.  They  en- 
joyed, however,  the  inestimable  advantage  of  educated 
parents  devoted  to  their  welfare.  The  seven  years  of 
Baltimore  life,  as  far  as  we  know,  passed  without  spe- 
cial incident.  On  some  stray  sheets  of  paper  torn 
from  an  old  ledger,  William  has  given  a  glimpse  of 
the  family  life  of  this  period :  — 

"These  pages  formed  part  of  an  account  book  of 
my  revered  father,  used  by  him  while  a  practicing 
physician,  and  when  his  chief  and  favorite  employ- 
ment in  the  intervals  of  business  was  the  instruction 
of  James,  Henry  and  myself.  Henry  was  then  too 


M-r.  15.]  THE  HOME  LIFE.  15 

young  to  be  sent  to  school,  —  at  least  so  my  father 
thought.  On  this  subject  his  views  were  peculiar,  and 
I  have  ever  regarded  them  not  only  as  benevolent  but 
wise. 

"  The  same  anxiety  that  led  him  to  postpone  mere 
book  instruction  to  the  natural  development  of  the 
physical  and  intellectual  powers  in  Henry's  case 
caused  him  to  restrict  our  attendance  on  school,  at  a 
later  period,  to  half  days.  So  that,  with  the  exception 
of  a  short  period  during  which  James  and  myself 
walked  about  two  miles  to  Baltimore  College  1  to  re- 
ceive instruction  in  Latin,  we  never  spent  any  of  our 
afternoon  hours  in  school.  Henry,  I  am  sure,  was 
exempt  during  the  whole  of  his  schoolboy  life  from 
attendance  in  the  afternoon. 

"  It  thus  happened  that  our  education  was  conducted 
in  great  part  at  home,  and  by  the  daily  personal  at- 
tention of  our  kind  and  judicious  father ;  and  to  this 
cause  I  may  justly  ascribe  the  thoroughness  of  our 
knowledge  on  all  the  subjects  which  we  studied,  though 
in  the  apparent  extent  of  our  attainments  we  were  by 
no  means  in  advance  of  our  playmates  trained  in  the 
ordinary  system  of  school  drudgery,  and  confined  to 
their  books  for  the  greater  part  of  the  day." 

It  is  related  that  music  formed  an  entertainment 
in  the  household,  Dr.  Rogers  and  his  son  Henry 
playing  the  violin  and  William  the  flute.  The  sons 
also  recalled  in  after  years  the  intense  boyish  delight 
of  certain  walks  with  their  father  into  the  suburbs 
of  Baltimore  on  Sunday  afternoons,  with  the  glass  of 
fresh  milk  drunk  at  some  farm-house  on  the  way. 

While  the  family  lived  in  Baltimore  William  was 
for  a  time  employed  in  the  china  warehouse  of  Mr.  M. 
F.  Keyser.  Here  it  was  that  he  acquired  a  skill  and 

1  Probably  Baltimore  City  College,  the  Public  High  School  of 
Baltimore. 


16  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.         [1819. 

dexterity  in  packing  china,  which  he  never  lost.  In 
later  years  this  accomplishment  —  for  such,  in  his 
case,  it  really  was  —  proved  very  useful  in  the  packing 
of  fragile  fossils  or  other  specimens.  In  after  years 
he  once  excited  the  admiration  of  his  family  by  pack- 
ing a  thin  glass  tumbler  side  by  side  with  a  heavy 
iron  implement  so  skillfully  that  the  glass  arrived  at 
the  end  of  a  long  journey  uninjured. 

The  appointment  of  Dr.  P.  K.  Kogers  to  a  pro- 
fessorship in  the  College  of  William  and  Mary  in 
1819  was  in  many  respects  fortunate.  It  formed  an 
epoch  in  the  family  history,  and  promised  to  the  anx- 
ious parent  a  relief  from  financial  distress.  It 
offered  to  him  also  the  welcome  opportunity  of  edu- 
cating his  boys,  who  were  now  rapidly  approaching 
manhood. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Eogers  with  their  children  removed  from 
Baltimore  to  Williamsburg  in  October,  1819.  James, 
the  eldest  son,  appears  to  have  returned  for  a  time  to 
Baltimore,  and  to  him  William  addressed  the  follow- 
ing letter  which  we  give,  unchanged,  as  it  is  the  first 
of  his  letters  which  has  been  preserved.  It  was 
written  at  the  age  of  fifteen :  — 

WILLIAM   TO   JAMES. 

WILLIAMSBUBG,  December  22,  1819. 

DEAE  JAMES,  —  I  received  your  letter  three  days 
ago,  and  was  glad  to  find  that  my  second  letter  had 
met  with  a  better  fate  than  my  first.  Along  with 
yours  I  received  one  from  our  very  eccentric  friend 
S.  S. ;  he  is  at  Rocky  Mount  in  Franklin  County,  and, 
as  he  states,  at  the  foot  of  the  elevated  Blue  Kidge. 
The  stile  is  such  as  might  be  expected  from  one  who, 
with  a  few  atoms  of  self-importance,  possesses  a  world 
of  good  nature  and  affection.  It  is  forcible,  warm, 


^Ex.  15.]  A   BOY'S  LETTER.  17 

and  now  and  then  too  florid,  but  his  letter  is  replete 
with  good  sense,  and  displays  an  active  mind  as  well 
as  a  benevolent  heart.  He  is  to  have  the  superin- 
tendence of  a  farm,  the  property  of  one  of  his  rela- 
tions, and  expects  that  his  situation  will  be  extremely 
pleasant  and  quite  independent.  He  seems  very  desir- 
ous of  establishing  a  correspondence  with  me,  and  fre- 
quently mentions  you,  always  with  the  most  friendly 
regard.  The  classes  remain  stationary  and  decorous ; 
there  has  not  been  the  least  misbehaviour  since  the 
opening  of  the  session,  but  the  courses  progress  in 
the  most  orderly  and  agreeable  manner.  It  were  for- 
tunate if  the  students  were  as  remarkable  for  their 
talents  as  good  nature,  but  it  is  not  so  ;  with  the 
exception  of  about  eight,  there  was  perhaps  never  an 
assemblage  of  young  men  so  totally  destitute  of  genius 
and  so  miserably  deficient  in  understanding.  Yes- 
terday (as  Mr.  Hawes  tells  me)  Dr.  Smith l  inquired 
of  a  student  what  was  the  nature  of  a  material  sub- 
stance, the  answer  was,  "  One  which  affects  our  senses 
and  exerts  reason !  "  Father  asked  the  same  person 
for  a  definition  of  a  solid ;  after  much  hesitation,  a 
good  deal  of  muttering,  and  abundance  of  broken 
sentences,  the  gentleman  answered  with  great  philo- 
sophical gravity  that  it  was  "A  —  a  —  a  body  which 
was  solid."  The  chemical  class,  however,  advance  as 
well  as  could  be  expected,  and  will  no  doubt  bear  a 
good  examination ;  there  are  a  few  members  in  par- 
ticular who  answer  extremely  well,  among  these  stands 
Robert  Saunders. 

Christmas  is  now  fast  approaching,  when  I  suppose 
the  inhabitants  will  enter  upon  the  same  routine  of 
dissipation  as  is  usual  at  this  season.  For  my  part,  I 
intend  to  visit  as  little  as  decency  will  admit,  and  Mr. 
Hawes  has  joined  me  in  this  determination.  Neither 
of  us  have  yet  been  to  Dr.  Coles's  or  Captain  Tra- 
vers's ;  we  took  tea  at  Mr.  Campbell's  shortly  after 

1  President  of  William  and  Mary  College. 


18  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.       [1819. 

Mr.  H.  arrived,  but  have  not  been  there  since.  We 
generally  sit  up  until  between  eleven  and  twelve  o'clock 
without  inconvenience,  and  find  the  stillness  of  the 
hour  to  favour  studies  in  astronomy.  It  is  the  most 
sublime  as  well  as  the  most  difficult  of  all  the  sciences ; 
it  requires  intense  study  and  great  application,  but  by 
the  joint  force  of  these  its  difficulties  are  soon  over- 
come, and  its  utility  and  beauty  become  more  strik- 
ingly manifest. 

We  are  all  extremely  well,  but  anxiously  antici- 
pating your  return,  in  hopes  of  which  and  of  your 
health  and  happiness  I  am, 

Your  very  affectionate  Brother, 

WILLIAM  B.  ROGERS. 

P.  S.  —  Robert  Saunders  intends  writing  to  you 
shortly,  his  father  wishing  such  a  correspondence  for 
his  improvement.  If  he  writes,  Father  says  you  must 
not  neglect  to  return  him  a  friendly  answer,  and, 
should  you  have  leisure  you  had  better  not  wait  for  a 
letter  from  him. 

Father  and  the  children  all  send  their  most  affec- 
tionate love  to  you,  as  well  as  to  our  relations  in  Bal- 
timore. I  must  now  bid  you  good-night  as  it  is  near 
my  bed-time.  Answer  this  speedily. 

W.  B.  E. 

The  following  "  Report  of  Standing  "  addressed  to 
Dr.  Rogers  shows  that  James  and  William  were  in 
attendance  at  William  and  Mary  during  the  session 
1819-20.  It  has  been  reproduced  as  a  contri- 
bution to  the  educational  history  of  the  period ; 
and  it  need  only  be  remarked  that  the  term  "  Society  " 
was  used  as  a  synonym  for  "  Faculty."  Ferdinand 
Campbell,  whose  signature  appears  upon  this  fac- 
simile, was  the  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  a  great 
favorite  with  the  students  of  the  college,  who  char- 
acterized him  in  the  following  rhyme  :  — 


^T.  15.]  CLIMATE.  19 

"  Here  comes  old  Ferdy, 
With  rectilinear  walk, 
His  head  full  of  diagrams, 
His  pockets  full  of  chalk." 

In  the  summer  following  the  removal  of  the  family 
to  Williamsburg,  Mrs.  Rogers  was  attacked  by  the 
fever  which  prevailed  in  the  malarial  climate  of  Lower 
Virginia  and  from  which  she  died.  The  death  of 
their  mother  was  a  heavy  blow  to  the  boys,  but  it 
seems  to  have  drawn  their  father  into  relations  with 
them  closer,  if  possible,  than  before. 

On  the  invitation  of  Colonel  Robert  Saunders,  Dr. 
Rogers  and  his  boys  left  Williamsburg  after  the  death 
of  Mrs.  Rogers,  and  spent  the  rest  of  their  vacation 
in  the  house  of  their  host  at  Short  Pump,  Va.  That 
this  was  a  wise  step  appears  from  the  following  passage 
in  a  letter  from  Professor  Campbell  to  Dr.  Rogers :  — 

WILLIAMSBURG,  October  7,  1820. 

MY  DEAR  DOCTOR,  .  .  .  Although  at  the  time 
of  your  departure  I  supposed  that  your  family  would 
have  incurred  no  risk  by  remaining  in  Williamsburg, 
I  rejoice  now  that  I  did  not  advise  you  to  stay,  and 
that  you  concluded  on  seeking  the  benefit  of  a  change 
of  air.  For  such  has  been  the  unhealthiness  of  this 
place  that  scarcely  any  of  the  old  inhabitants  have 
escaped  from  severe  illness  ;  and,  to  add  to  this  misfor- 
tune, the  physician  on  whom  all  are  disposed  to  rely 
most  (Dr.  Gait)  has  likewise  had  a  bilious  attack, 
which  has  deprived  them  of  his  services  for  three 
weeks,  and  still  continues  to  do  so.  ... 

I  saw  old  Kitt l  the  other  day ;  the  only  thing  he 
wanted  was  a  little  corn  for  the  fowls,  which  I  believe 
he  got.  We  are  mindful  of  you  all  every  afternoon 
when  we  view  your  abode,  or  see  Henry's  ducks,  who 
visit  us  every  day. 

1  A  family  servant. 


20  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.       [1821. 

In  the  autumn  of  1821  James  left  William  and 
Mary  College  to  study  medicine  at  the  University 
of  Maryland,  in  Baltimore.  A  correspondence  now 
began  between  the  brothers,  which  was  continued 
as  long  as  they  lived.  The  following  is  important  as 
showing  their  early  interest  in  science,  and  also  as 
an  estimate  by  his  eldest  son  of  the  father's  attain- 
ments :  — 


JAMES    (19)    TO  WILLIAM    (17). 

BALTIMOKE,  November  9, 1821. 

DEAR  BROTHER,  —  In  compliance  with  my  promise 
of  soon  writing  to  you,  I  now  sit  down  to  write  you  a 
short  letter,  in  which  you  may  not  calculate  on  any- 
thing new,  except  a  new  and  in  my  opinion  a  rather 
singular  opinion  advanced  by  Dr.  De  Butts,  which  he 
delivered  this  evening,  one  which  I  think  is  wholly 
unsupported  by  any  evidence.  It  is  this,  that  no  two 
bodies  of  heterogeneous  character  are  presented  to  each 
other  without  thereby  chemical  union  being  produced ; 
for  instance,  a  drop  of  water  applied  to  a  plate  of 
glass  adheres  to  it  by  virtue  of  chemical  attraction,  or 
affinity ;  and  that  the  different  forces  of  this  attraction 
are  to  be  observed  in  all  degrees,  from  the  simple  case 
I  have  mentioned  to  those  in  which  the  most  powerful 
chemical  attraction  exerts  its  influence.  In  a  word, 
what  Father  denominates  "heterogeneous  adhesion" 
is  with  him  really  a  chemical  union.  I  believe  this 
opinion  to  be  erroneous,  inasmuch  as  there  is  in  this 
case  to  be  observed  none  of  those  changes  which  are 
said  to  be  characteristic  of  chemical  affinity.  When 
you  write  me  (which  do  soon)  give  me  your  opinion 
on  this  point.  Dr.  De  Butts  seems  to  have  considera- 
bly improved  as  a  lecturer  since  I  last  heard  him,  but 
yet  he  falls  far  short  of  Father.  However,  I  think 
his  lectures  are  sufficiently  full  for  his  class,  for  very 


JET.  17.]          EARLY  CORRESPONDENCE.  21 

few  of  the  members  of  it  that  I  know  are  capable  of 
comprehending  one  half  of  what  he  says.  I  have 
often,  while  listening  to  the  Doctor,  wished  the  stu- 
dents could  hear  one  of  Father's  lectures  on  the  sub- 
ject, for  they  as  far  surpass  the  Doctor's  in  point  of 
correctness,  science  and  elegance,  as  the  meridian  sun 
does  the  evening  star  in  brilliancy.  .  .  . 

Two  months  later  James  writes  again  to  William, 
who  appears  to  have  been  ill,  and  gravely  records 
his  impressions  of  his  brother  Henry,  —  impressions 
which,  especially  in  view  of  the  eminence  which  the 
latter  achieved,  are  interesting :  — 

JAMES   TO   WILLIAM. 

BALTIMORE,  January  10,  1822. 

DEAR  BROTHER,  .  .  .  You  will  please  inform  Henry 
that,  as  he  has  arrived  at  that  age  in  which  he  might 
write  a  letter,  nothing  would  give  me  more  pleasure 
than  to  receive  a  letter  from  him,  in  which  I  shall 
expect  him  to  tell  me  what  he  is  studying,  and  how  he 
comes  on  in  his  studies.  I  have,  I  think,  perceived 
in  Henry  that  constitution  of  mind  which  is  admira- 
bly fitted  for  success  in  this  world,  and  which,  if  prop- 
erly cultivated,  would  manifest  genius  of  no  ordinary 
cast.  .  .  . 

James,  having  been  graduated  in  medicine  in  1822, 
immediately  opened  an  office  and  formed  a  partnership 
for  medical  practice  with  a  friend.  But  he  was  not  suc- 
cessful. His  letters  contain  repeated  and  urgent  ap- 
peals to  his  father  for  money  for  his  bare  necessities. 
The  following  illustrates  not  only  the  struggles  of  a 
young  physician,  but  also  the  prospects  and  the  lines 
of  medical  practice  at  that  period :  — 


22  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.         [1822. 


JAMES   TO   WILLIAM. 

BALTIMORE,  May  7, 1822. 

DEAE  BROTHER,  .  .  .  My  partner  and  myself  have 
had  an  office  open  now  for  more  than  two  weeks,  and 
in  all  that  time  have  had  only  three  patients,  and 
those  not  promising  profit,  —  prospects  which  certainly 
are  not  very  flattering ;  but  we  are  told  the  city  at 
present  is  very  healthy,  unusually  so.  We  have  pa- 
tience, however,  if  we  have  not  patients,  and  are  on 
the  lookout,  and  endeavouring  to  do  the  best  we  can. 

The  weather  is  becoming  very  warm,  and  a  fair 
prospect  presents  itself  for  bilious  fevers.  Indeed,  I 
am  oppressed  in  my  winter  clothes,  and  have  no  light 
ones  to  change.  I  '11  thank  you  if  you  will  tell  Father 
this,  that  he  may  afford  me,  if  possible,  means  of  pro- 
curing some,  at  least,  by  the  first  of  June.  There  has 
been  a  good  deal  of  sickness  of  late  in  uncle's 1  family. 
I  bled  no  less  than  three  of  them  within  the  last  week, 
but  they  are  all  now  nearly  well.  .  .  . 

In  May,  1822,  an  interesting  event  occurred  in  the 
delivery  by  William  Barton  Rogers,  then  only  seven- 
teen and  a  half  years  of  age,  of  an  oration  at  the 
celebration  of  the  third  "  Virginiad,"  at  Jamestown, 
Va.  His  friend,  Robert  Saunders,  Jr.,  also  made  an 
oration,  as  appears  from  the  following :  — 

JAMES   TO   WILLIAM. 

May  30,  1822. 

DEAR  BROTHER,  —  Looking  over  one  of  the  papers 
of  yesterday,  I  observed  a  description  of  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Virginiad  at  Jamestown,  in  a  letter  ad- 
dressed by  a  gentleman  who  was  present  to  one  of  the 
Norfolk  editors.  He  mentioned  that  two  orations 

1  The  uncle  here  referred  to  was  Mr.  Alexander  Rogers,  a  resident 
of  Baltimore. 


Mi.  17.]  ORATION  AT  JAMESTOWN.  23 

were  delivered,  by  two  very  young  men  of  the  name  of 
Rogers  and  Saunders,  which  he  complimented  very 
highly,  but  particularly  the  first,  which  he  said  was 
delivered  by  Mr.  Rogers.  The  thought  immediately 
struck  me  that  it  was  you,  as  you  evinced  some  talent 
for  oratory,  and  the  subject  opened  a  wide  field  for 
the  display  of  it.  It  made  me  feel  a  momentary  degree 
of  pride,  until  reading  farther  I  saw  that  William 
and  Mary  did  not  participate  in  the  festival.  This 
made  me  doubt  whether  you  were  the  person,  or  some 
other  of  the  same  name.  My  principal  object  in  now 
writing  to  you  is  to  ascertain  the  fact.  The  writer 
says  he  hopes  to  be  able  to  procure  the  first  oration. 
If  it  be  yours,  I  hope  it  may  be  published,  that  I  may 
get  a  look  at  it.  ... 

The  following  extract  illustrates  the  character  of 
this  youthful  oration,  which  may  be  found  in  full  in 
the  "  Richmond  (Va.)  Enquirer  "  of  June  4, 1822 :  — 

.  .  .  "The  first  Virginian  colonists  bade  a  final 
adieu  to  the  thronged  land  of  their  nativity.  Having 
taken  an  affectionate  farewell  of  their  friends  and 
dearest  relations,  they  steered  toward  the  ample  shores 
of  America.  .  .  . 

"  As  they  sailed  into  the  Chesapeake,  they  viewed 
this  spacious  bay  with  admiration  and  delight,  and 
found  themselves  enclosed  in  a  vast  amphitheatre 
formed  by  the  distant  forests  which  skirted  its  blue 
waters.  The  jutting  points  of  land  opened,  as  they 
advanced,  into  broad  extended  shores,  or  retired  as  if 
by  enchantment.  While  the  eye  surveyed  the  rich 
exuberance  of  vegetation,  and  the  diversified  tints  of 
the  foliage  which  painted  the  varied  landscape  on 
every  side,  the  heart  dilated  with  the  exulting  anti- 
cipation of  unequalled  felicity,  and  the  enraptured 
imagination  dwelt  only  on  dreams  of  delight.  Beauty 
and  grandeur  appeared  everywhere  around ;  and  in 
the  ardent  glow  of  enthusiasm,  the  now  joyous  ad- 


24  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.        [1822. 

venturers    represented    the   country   as    an    earthly 
paradise. 

"  In  exploring  this  interesting  scene,  they  entered 
the  spacious  opening  through  which  the  Chesapeake 
receives  the  tributary  waters  of  the  majestic  Powha- 
tan.  A  permanent  resting-place,  favorable  for  the 
establishment  of  a  plantation,  was  now  sought ;  and 
the  peninsula  on  which  we  are  this  day  assembled 
was  the  spot  distinguished  by  their  choice;  James- 
town, consecrated  by  their  toils  and  sufferings,  became 
the  seat  of  the  first  colony  within  the  present  limits 
of  Virginia." 

The  young  orators  of  Jamestown  were  always  firm 
friends.  The  following  letter  is  given  to  show  their 
boyish  assumption  of  knowledge  of  life  and  men  :  — 

TO   ROBERT   SAUNDERS,    JR. 

RICHMOND,  October  13,  1822. 

DEAR  ROBERT,  —  I  have  not  for  a  long  time  been 
more  out  of  humour  than  I  am  at  this  moment.  Fully 
an  hour  ago  I  came  upstairs  determined  to  write 
you  a  very  amusing  letter.  It  occurred  to  me  that  an 
occasional  departure  from  my  usual  dull  style  of  writing 
might  prevent  your  being  weary  of  my  correspondence. 
Now,  the  cause  of  my  ill-humour  is  this,  —  I  have  been 
sitting  ever  since  in  a  retired  apartment,  ready  to  catch 
at  whatever  started  in  my  mind  that  might  afford  you 
entertainment,  but  after  trying  to  stimulate  my  inven- 
tion by  every  means  in  my  power  I  have  been  unable 
to  elicit  even  a  single  pleasant  conceit.  Two  or  three 
snail-paced  ideas  have  indeed  crept  across  my  mind, 
but  they  are  not  of  the  kind  I  want.  I  find  my  brains 
are  too  heavy  and  viscid ;  the  little  wriggling  maggot 
that  stirs  up  witty  fancies  is  unable  to  move  in  them. 
Alas!  I  must  content  myself  with  my  usual  dull, 
insipid  style. 

I  agree  with  you  in  believing  that  there  is  a  great 


.Sir.  18.]        EARLY  CORRESPONDENCE.  25 

deal  of  villainy  among  men.  I  fear  few  who  consult 
their  experience  can  believe  otherwise.  Young  persons 
who  have  had  little  intercourse  with  mankind  are  not 
apt  to  be  of  your  sentiment,  however;  they  generally  en- 
tertain a  more  favourable  opinion  of  the  world  than 
ordinary  experience  will  support.  This  arises  from  the 
unsuspecting  benevolence  which  is  the  natural  character 
of  youth.  Viewed  through  this  medium,  man  appears 
encircled  with  the  halo  of  every  virtue.  Experience 
draws  a  very  different  picture,  in  which  the  halo  of 
virtue  is  changed  for  the  veil  of  hypocrisy.  This 
painful  contrast  is  perceived  more  or  less  by  every  one 
upon  first  entering  the  busy  world.  I  am  prepared  for 
it  myself ;  but  so  long  as  my  dear  friend  remains  un- 
changed, I  will  be  contented. 

Dear  Bob,  I  am  quite  impatient  to  see  you  again. 
It  seems  almost  an  age  since  I  left  Williamsburg. 
Indeed,  as  the  time  of  our  departure  from  Richmond 
approaches,  the  days  appear  to  move  more  and  more 
tardily.  In  one  week  from  this  I  expect  we  shall  be 
on  the  road ;  then  my  impatience  will  give  me  no  rest 
until  the  journey  is  ended.  The  anticipation  of  again 
enjoying  your  company  is  delightful. 
Your  sincere  friend, 

WILLIAM  B.  ROGERS. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  October,  1822,  William 
was  in  Richmond.  Hither  the  father  had  come,  partly 
to  escape  the  dangerous  climate  of  Williamsburg  but, 
on  this  visit,  more  particularly  to  superintend  the  pub- 
lication of  his  text-book.  In  the  course  of  a  letter 
addressed  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  Dr.  Rogers  refers  to 
his  son  William,  who  seems  to  have  been  his  assistant, 
as  follows :  — 


26          YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.  [1822. 


PATRICK   K.   ROGERS   TO   THOMAS   JEFFERSON. 

[About  1823.] 

SIR,  —  I  take  the  liberty  of  sending  you  a  copy  of  a 
little  work l  which  I  prepared  for  the  use  of  one  of  my 
classes  in  William  and  Mary. 

The  students  who  attend  our  courses  are  generally 
very  deficient  in  preparatory  schooling,  and  a  great 
proportion  of  them  appear  to  be  altogether  incapable 
of  steady  application,  from  the  want  of  early  discipline. 
My  "  Introduction,"  etc.,  was  arranged  in  some  measure 
with  a  view  to  the  improvement  of  mental  discipline ; 
its  plan  being  convenient  for  regular  recitals,  at  the 
blackboard,  or  otherwise,  and  it  is  believed  that  fa- 
miliar acquaintance  with  its  contents  may  enable  the 
student  in  natural  philosophy  (who  is  duly  prepared 
in  mathematics)  to  pursue  more  general  reading  with 
satisfaction  and  enjoyment,  and  to  encounter  future 
difficulties  in  the  science  with  confidence  and  alacrity. 
...  I  have  followed  what  is,  perhaps,  a  very  common, 
and  is  certainly  a  very  natural  inclination.  A  professor 
who  loves  the  science  which  he  teaches  will  be  fond  of 
treating  it  in  a  manner  as  a  favorite  child,  by  dressing 
it  according  to  his  own  fancy,  and  by  presenting  it  in 
that  attitude  which  he  supposes  may  most  effectually 
secure  to  it,  at  first  sight,  an  approving  glance  or  a 
kind  sentiment. 

The  demonstrations  of  the  14th,  35th,  68th,  and  93d 
propositions  are  by  my  second  son,  who  is  now  in  his 
twentieth  year,  and  has  a  very  extraordinary  passion 
for  physico-mathematical  sciences.  About  half  a  dozen 
other  demonstrations  are  taken  without  alteration  from 
the  writings  of  Dr.  Robinson  and  Dr.  Thos.  Young. 
All  the  rest  of  the  work  is  my  own  method  and  lan- 
guage, my  several  guides  being  Newton,  Robinson, 
Monge,  Young,  etc.  .  .  . 

1  An  Introduction  to  the  Mathematical  Principles  of  Natural  Philo- 
sophy, by  P.  K.  Rogers.  Richmond,  1822. 


MT.  18.]  HEALTH.  27 

In  the  letters  of  1822  and  1823,  there  are  frequent 
references  to  William's  delicate  health  or  actual  ill- 
ness ;  and  the  other  brothers,  as  we  shall  see,  were  by 
no  means  robust. 


JAMES    TO   WILLIAM. 

BALTIMORE,  December  19,  1822. 

DEAR  BROTHER,  —  The  receipt  of  your  letter  was  to 
me  a  source  of  real  pleasure,  for  I  have  nothing  more 
at  heart  than  your  health  and  welfare.  I  only  hope 
that  your  sickness  may  not  lay  the  foundation  for  seri- 
ous and  troublesome  complaints  so  often  the  conse- 
quence of  bilious  disease.  However,  you  are  under  the 
eye  of  a  physician  whose  parental  care  will  not  allow 
anything  serious,  if  possible,  to  occur.  A  short  time 
after  I  returned  to  Baltimore  from  the  country,  I  was 
apprehensive,  from  a  pain  in  my  side,  that  I  had  not 
completely  recovered  from  the  attack  I  had  while  there ; 
but  I  believe  now  I  am  perfectly  free  from  any  local 
affection. 

For  the  sake  of  improvement  I  attend  some  of  the 
lectures  in  the  University,  and  particularly  the  chemi- 
cal lectures,  by  which  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of 
testing  Dr.  De  Butts's  acquirements.  Dr.  Murray, 
whose  works  I  have  read,  I  have  found  to  be  his  right 
hand  man.  I  have  myself  made  so  much  progress  in 
this  beautiful  science  that  I  would  not  exchange  my 
knowledge  of  the  subject  for  that  of  the  Doctor.  I 
have  for  the  sake  of  improvement  written  an  intro- 
ductory lecture  on  chemistry,  which  I  should  like  you 
to  see,  if  I  had  any  convenient  way  of  forwarding 
it ;  perhaps  in  your  next  letter  you  may  suggest  some 
plan  of  doing  so.  ... 

William,  until  the  autum  of  1825,  spent  his  winters 
in  Williamsburg,  and  from  the  following  letter  it 
appears  that  in  1823  he  was  giving  much  time  to  the 
study  of  the  classics :  — 


28          YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.  [1823. 


JAMES  TO   WILLIAM. 

February  27,  1823. 

DEAR  BROTHER,  ...  I  was  pleased  that  your 
apology  for  delay  in  writing  was  attention  to  the  study 
of  Greek,  and  not  indisposition,  which  I  feared  existed, 
and  indeed  I  am  not  disposed  to  view  this  as  a  trifling 
one,  when  I  consider  your  habits  of  close  application, 
in  which  you  are  so  abstracted  from  everything  but 
what  you  are  at,  as  to  be  very  liable  to  forget  answer- 
ing such  letters  as  mine,  in  which  there  are  no  points  of 
interesting  character  presented  to  your  reflecting  mind. 
Your  views  with  respect  to  the  beauties  of  Homer  I 
make  no  doubt  are  correct,  for  although  I  have  not 
studied  the  Greek,  I  love  that  idea  of  the  language  (I 
know  not  how  I  obtained  it)  which  enables  me  to  con- 
ceive it  possible  that  no  English  translation  can  retain 
the  majestic  sublimity  of  the  original. 

I  am  reading  also,  for  the  sake  of  improvement  in 
algebra,  a  Latin  edition  of  Euler's  elements  of  that 
subject,  and  for  simplicity  of  style,  clearness  of  con- 
ception, and  accuracy  of  demonstration,  he  certainly 
cannot  be  surpassed  by  any.  I  never  had  correct 
views  of  this  beautiful  science,  but  since  I  have 
perused  him  I  have  been  enabled  to  reason  on  ab- 
stract infinite  quantity  with  as  much  precision  as  on 
determinate  ones. 

I  am  pleased  Henry  has  made  such  rapid  progress 
in  his  Latin,  and  that  Robert  is  not  altogether  devoted 
to  play. 

I  shall  take  an  opportunity  soon  of  sending  you  my 
introductory  lecture  by  mail,  that  I  may  know  whether 
you  think  me  able  to  write  introductory  lectures.  I 
read  a  short  essay  before  the  Medical  Society  of 
Maryland  a  few  evenings  ago,  and  from  their  conduct 
to  me  I  judged  they  thought  me  in  some  degree  qual- 
ified to  write  medical  essays.  The  subject  compre- 
hended criticism  on  the  popular  use  of  mercury  in 


Mis.  19.]  CLASSICAL  STUDIES.  29 

fever,  in  which  I  endeavoured  to  prove  that  this  inval- 
uable article  was  much  abused  by  the  alchymistic 
physicians  of  the  present  day,  who  have  as  they  think 
found  in  it  the  long-sought-for  Panacea,  and  for  the 
benefit  of  humanity  make  it  their  unicum  remediwn, 
and  dispense  it  with  liberal  and  bountiful  profu- 
sion. .  .  . 

In  the  next  winter  (1823-24)  Dr.  P.  K.  Eogers, 
in  writing  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  states  that  William 
was  engaged  in  mathematical  studies :  — 

PATRICK   K.   ROGERS   TO   THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 

WILLIAMSBUBG,  March  14, 1824. 

To  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  ESQ. 

/Sir,  —  The  polite  terms  in  which  you  are  pleased 
to  express  your  estimate  of  that  portion  of  my  "  In- 
troduction "  which  has  been  printed  could  not  fail  to 
give  pleasure  to  the  writer.  And  the  kind  conclusion 
of  your  letter  claims  more  than  formal  thanks :  it  is, 
in  commercial  phrase,  a  draft  upon  the  affections, 
which  the  heart  is  ready  and  willing  to  pay.  I  intend 
to  indulge  myself  in  the  high  gratification  of  mak- 
ing a  visit  to  Monticello  next  July,  and  regret  that  I 
could  not  without  great  inconvenience  have  done  so 
last  summer.  With  an  ardent  curiosity  to  see  the 
University,  considerations  (I  cannot  call  them  hopes) 
are  connected,  which  make  me  desirous  to  see  you 
as  soon  as  the  duties  in  which  I  am  engaged  will 
permit. 

There  is  something  in  the  organization  of  William 
and  Mary  which,  independently  of  its  location  or 
other  permanent  disadvantages,  must  forever  prevent 
it  from  being  prosperous  or  successful ;  and  while  I 
sincerely  congratulate  the  friends  of  the  University  on 
their  success  in  the  late  session  of  the  legislature,  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  when  that  institution  goes 
into  operation  we  shall  scarcely  have  occasion  to  open 


30          YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.  [1824. 

the  doors  of  the  old  college.  Even  at  present  there 
is  no  reputation  to  be  acquired  here,  and  no  en- 
couragement to  activity  or  zeal.  Your  comparative 
view  of  the  merits  of  the  French  and  English  writers 
on  mathematical  and  physical  science  is  that  which  I 
have  long  entertained.  Two  great  works,  however,  in 
the  English  language,  those  of  Young  and  Robinson, 
may  be  regarded  as  exceptions  to  the  general  stand- 
ard of  the  English  writers  on  the  various  branches 
of  mechanical  philosophy.  Yet,  I  confess,  I  am  not 
a  convert  to  the  theory  of  light  and  heat  which  is 
so  ably  defended  by  the  former,  —  the  theory  of  un- 
dulations in  a  diffused  universal  medium.  The  lat- 
ter, in  his  system  of  mechanical  philosophy,  which 
is  delivered  in  the  happiest  style  of  an  experienced 
teacher,  avails  himself  of  the  best  and  latest  inves- 
tigations of  his  contemporaries  of  every  country.  .  .  . 
The  fluxional  notation  and  idea  must  undoubtedly 
give  place  to  the  differential,  in  England  and  in  this 
country,  at  no  distant  period.  The  clearness  and 
facility  of  the  latter,  compared  with  the  obscurity  and 
the  difficulty  of  the  former,  in  the  hands  of  beginners, 
will  soon  fix  the  destiny  of  the  two  methods.  The  best 
Scotch  mathematicians  have  already  decided  in  favour 
of  the  differential  method.  .  .  .  My  second  son  has 
almost  completed  a  translation  of  the  "  Elements  du 
Calcul  Differentiel "  of  Bezout,  for  the  use  of  his 
younger  brother,  this  being  the  only  elementary  work 
to  which  he  has  access  that  treats  the  subject  by  the 
theory  of  infinitesimals.  He  has  himself  been  engaged 
in  reading  the  more  abstruse  and  more  perfect  treatise 
in  Brewster's  Encyclopaedia.  Although  we  have  a 
pretty  large  library  in  this  place,  we  have  very  few 
books  of  real  use  to  the  profession,  unless  those  on 
metaphysics,  or  what  has  been  pompously  denominated 
the  philosophy  of  the  mind,  are  to  be  considered  as 
such.  We  have  indeed  the  works  of  Bezout  and  La- 
place, with  several  of  the  best  treatises  on  chemistry, 
and  the  systems  of  natural  and  mechanical  philosophy 


^T.  20.]  MATHEMATICS.  31 

of  Young  and  Robinson,  which,  after  three  years  of 
solicitation,  were  reluctantly  imported  and  received 
last  summer.  And  of  course  we  have  access  to  most 
of  the  old  writers  on  physics  and  mechanics,  from 
Archimedes  to  Newton.  .  .  . 

I  have  hesitated  to  trouble  you  with  the  present 
letter,  aware  that  the  correspondence  which,  at  your 
advanced  period  of  life,  you  may  still  find  agreeable 
to  sustain,  must  be  with  old  and  probably  very  dis- 
tant friends.  But  reflecting  that  to  read  is  less 
fatiguing  than  to  write,  and  that  an  acknowledgment 
was  really  due  for  that  assurance  of  welcome  which 
you  have  been  so  good  as  to  give  me,  I  came  to  the 
determination  to  tender  it  in  this  form ;  and  with  my 
thanks  for  the  personal  favour  and  sentiments  of 
purest  respect, 

I  remain, 

Your  ob't  servant, 

PATRICK  KERB  ROGERS. 

In  October,  1825,  William  and  Henry  had  both 
removed  to  Baltimore  to  seek  their  fortunes,  Henry 
finding  employment  for  a  time  with  a  retail  merchant. 
Ill  health,  however,  pursued  them,  as  the  following 

letters  testify :  — 

PATRICK   K.    ROGERS   TO   HIS   SON  WILLIAM. 

.  .  .  Henry  writes  me  that  your  indisposition  con- 
tinues unabated.  I  cannot,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  suggest 
anything  promising  of  utility  beyond  what  your  own 
experience  would  direct  you  to.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  a  hard  winter  will  do  you  service.  .  .  . 

WUJJAMSBURG,  October  17,  1825. 

DEAR  WILLIAM,  —  I  regret  exceedingly  that  I  have 
not  yet  received  any  communication  from  the  bursar. 
I  have  feared  that  some  of  you  may  have  been  in 


32         YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.  [1825. 

want  of  necessary  articles  to  meet  the  inclemency  of 
the  season.  There  is  now  no  expectation  from  Chris- 
tian 1  until  he  comes  to  Williamsburg  at  the  com- 
mencement of  next  month  to  make  his  usual  settle- 
ment with  the  faculty.  This  delay  of  salary  has  given 
me  unusual  concern,  as  I  had  made  your  aunt  Ramsay 
expect  some  money  at  the  opening  of  the  course,  and 
as  it  is  high  time  your  uncle  had  payment  for  board. 
Both  claims  must  be  attended  to  in  the  beginning  of 
next  month.  As  I  do  not  now  expect  to  receive  any 
money  from  Christian  until  he  comes  at  the  first  of 
January,  I  have  enclosed  thirty  dollars,  with  the  view 
of  providing  any  article  which  either  of  the  three  — 
James,  Henry,  or  yourself  —  may  particularly  require. 
Shoes  and  good  warm  socks  are  indispensable,  and 
unless  Henry  has  got  already  supplied  he  must  want 
a  couple  of  flannel  shirts. 

I  have  been  much  disappointed  in  not  receiving 
a  letter  from  any  of  you  by  yesterday's  mail.  I  am 
anxious  to  know  how  you  and  Henry  come  on  in  your 
new  engagement  [teaching],  and  how  the  business 
consists  with  the  health  of  both.  If  you  are  able  to 
continue  those  duties  it  will  be  a  very  important  cir- 
cumstance ;  you  may,  by  a  dignified  and  kind  deport- 
ment to  the  boys,  lay  a  sure  foundation  for  an  inde- 
pendent establishment  for  yourselves  at  some  future 
day,  should  it  suit  in  respect  to  your  health. 

I  had  hoped,  on  your  receiving  my  last  letter,  or  at 
least  since  Henry  and  you  entered  on  your  academic 
duties,  to  have  had  a  letter  of  information.  Do  not 
fail  to  write  immediately  on  receipt  of  this,  or,  if  you 
should  find  it  oppressive  to  do  so,  let  James  or  Henry 
write.  .  .  . 

Your  affectionate  father, 

P.  K.  ROGERS. 

1  The  bursar  of  the  college. 


JEi.  21.]          A   PROFESSOR'S  SALARY.  33 

The  rising  University  of  Virginia  now  threatened 
the  slender  prosperity  of  William  and  Mary  College. 
It  was  therefore  proposed  to  remove  the  latter  to 
Richmond.  The  following  letter  of  Dr.  Rogers  refers 
to  this  proposal,  and  also  illustrates  the  pecuniary 
difficulties  of  a  professor's  life  in  a  poorly- endowed 
college :  — 

PATRICK   K.    ROGERS   TO   HIS   SON  WILLIAM. 

WrmAMSBtruG,  January  16,  1826. 

DEAR  WILLIAM,  —  I  send  enclosed  an  order  of  the 
bursar  on  the  Bank  of  Virginia  for  one  hundred  dol- 
lars. This  day  he  laid  his  books  before  the  Society 
for  settlement,  and  the  dividend  to  each  of  the  profes- 
sors was  unexpectedly  small  on  account  of  the  expenses 
in  fitting  up  the  college,  and  the  additional  salary  to 
be  paid  out  of  his  collections.  I  received  only  two 
hundred  dollars,  fifty  having  been  deducted  for  rent 
to  the  5th  of  July  last.  He  has,  however,  pleasant 
news  for  us.  Large  amounts  of  interest  long  due 
will  certainly  be  paid  during  the  spring,  and  he  as- 
sures us  that  he  has  not  the  least  doubt  but  that, 
between  this  time  and  next  July,  every  cent  of  arrears 
due  the  professors  will  be  paid  to  them.  There  is 
remaining,  after  the  present  payment,  about  thirteen 
months'  salary  due  to  every  one.  This  will  be  very 
fortunate  for  me  if  it  is  made  good.  But  there  will 
be  strong  pulling  at  the  next  convention  in  different 
directions :  offices  to  be  divided,  professorships  to  be 
put  down,  removal  and  no  removal  of  the  college. 
Keep  these  things  private.  I  shall  have  much  curious 
communication  for  you  and  your  brother  when  I  go 
on  to  Baltimore,  which  I  am  afraid  to  put  on  paper. 
One  thing  is  to  me  certain :  the  college  will  not,  in 
any  time  to  serve  us,  be  removed  from  its  present 
location. 

Desire  Henry  to  write  to  me  frequently.     He  is  the 


34          YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.  [1826. 

youngest  sojourner,  and  therefore  I  feel  particularly 
desirous  to  know  how  he  comes  on. 

Of  the  enclosed  sum  it  will  be  proper  to  give  your 
aunt  Ramsay  at  least  ten  dollars,  and  make  such  pay- 
ment to  your  uncle  as  you  may  all  judge  right,  and 
apply  the  surplus  to  the  use  of  those  of  you  who  most 
want  necessaries.  I  shall  be  happy  to  find  on  my 
arrival  at  Baltimore  that  you  all  are  to  each  other 
kind  and  liberal,  and  that  your  health  and  happiness 
improve.  James  should  have  a  keen  lookout  for  him- 
self ;  an  unfortunate  squall  in  this  place  may  render 
me  unable  to  give  him  any  important  assistance. 
I  remain  your  affectionate  father, 

P.  K.  ROGERS. 

The  proposed  removal  of  William  and  Mary  College 
to  the  city  of  Richmond,  referred  to  above,  was  advo- 
cated because  of  its  unhealthy  location,  and  also  in 
the  belief  that  only  by  its  transfer  to  a  larger  and 
wealthier  community  could  it  compete  successfully 
with  the  new  "University"  of  Thomas  Jefferson.1 

In  the  autumn  of  1826  the  two  brothers,  William 
and  Henry,  opened  a  school  at  Windsor,  Md.,  some 
fourteen  miles  from  Baltimore.  Robert,  now  thir- 
teen years  old,  left  his  father  and  joined  them  in 
Windsor,  attending  their  school  and  living  in  the 
family  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fitzhugh. 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS   FATHER. 

WINDSOB,  November  3,  1826. 

DEAR  FATHER,  —  I  have  seated  myself  in  the  midst 
of  our  school  to  write  to  you.  I  cannot,  therefore, 
bestow  much  study  on  my  letter. 

Henry  is  much  as  usual,  —  still  troubled  with  dys- 

1  See  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education :  Circular  No.  1, 1887  ;  The  College 
of  William  and  Mary,  etc.,  pp.  58-61. 


Mi.  22.]  SCHOOL-TEACHING.  35 

peptic  symptoms,  and  occasional  pains  in  the  breast. 
Robert  has  had  an  attack  of  the  croup,  but  through 
the  kind  care  of  the  family  he  is  now  well,  though 
not  able  to  come  to  school.  .  .  . 

Our  school  has  been  nearly  stationary  since  we 
saw  you.  We  cannot  expect  to  make  much  more 
than  a  support  in  our  present  situation.  The  profits 
of  the  school  would  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  one  of 
us,  as  it  would  enable  him  to  lay  by  something  for 
the  future ;  but,  as  by  the  present  arrangement  they 
must  be  divided  between  us,  they  will  not  enable  us 
to  improve  our  circumstances.  However  delightful 
the  place  and  society,  we  therefore  cannot  regard 
the  situation  as  a  permanent  one,  at  least  for  both 
of  us. 

Since  you  left  town  I  have  made  inquiry  respecting 
the  situation  which  Dr.  Webster  spoke  to  you  about, 
and  which  I  declined  applying  for.  I  called  upon 
Dr.  Stewart,  who  gave  me  particular  information  on 
the  subject.  The  gentleman  who  wanted  a  tutor  is 
Mr.  W.  Garnett,  the  husband  of  the  lady  who  teaches 
a  very  celebrated  female  school  in  Virginia.  He  has 
three  sons,  whom  he  wishes  to  educate  at  home.  They 
are  to  be  instructed  in  Greek,  Latin,  English  and 
Mathematics ;  and  the  tutor  is  to  receive  a  salary  of 
four  hundred  dollars  and  his  boarding.  The  salary 
is  handsome,  and  to  one  in  my  situation  is  very  entic- 
ing. From  the  importance  attached  to  the  classical 
instruction,  I  fear  my  qualifications  would  hardly  be 
sufficient.  Mr.  Garnett  observes  in  a  letter,  from 
which  Dr.  Stewart  read  a  passage,  that  the  person 
whom  he  employs  must  have  great  patience,  for  he 
must  be  content  to  teach  without  the  use  of  the  rod 
or  emulation.  My  present  situation  is  truly  delight- 
ful in  every  respect  but  one:  it  is  not  sufficiently 
lucrative.  But  for  this  I  would  not  change  my  abode, 
with  the  same  employment,  for  any  other  in  the  world. 
I  have  felt  anxious  to  have  your  opinion  again  on  this 
subject,  ever  since  I  heard  that  the  place  was  still 


36          YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.  [1827. 

open.  Mr.  Garnett  is  a  visitor  of  the  college ;  perhaps 
you  may  have  seen  him  in  Williamsburg.  Teaching 
is  much  less  profitable  in  Maryland  than  in  Virginia. 
There,  a  classical  teacher  may  in  a  few  years  lay  up 
what  will  enable  him  to  obtain  a  profession  and  begin 
the  practice  of  it ;  here,  unless  he  is  so  fortunate  as  to 
become  fashionable  in  the  city,  he  can  only  realize  a 
support.  You  may,  perhaps,  hear  of  some  situation 
in  Virginia  that  would  be  desirable.  If  you  should, 
please  inform  us. 

I  remain  your  affectionate  son, 

WILLIAM  B.  ROGEKS. 

N.  B.  —  Do  not  from  this  letter  infer  that  I  am 
displeased  with  our  present  situation.  I  am  highly 
pleased  with  it,  but  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  look  to  the 
future. 

W.  B.  E. 

In  January,  1827,  we  find  William  delivering  lec- 
tures before  the  Maryland  Institute  in  Baltimore, 
and  from  his  "Introductory"  lecture  quote  a  few 
sentences :  — 

"  The  general  considerations  which  I  have  thus  pre- 
sented are  such  as  the  scene  before  me  is  calculated 
to  suggest.  I  shall  now  conclude  my  preliminary 
observations  with  a  few  remarks  relative  to  this  insti- 
tution, and  then  proceed  to  topics  more  immediately 
connected  with  the  subject  of  the  succeeding  lectures. 
I  need  not  in  this  place  enlarge  upon  the  usefulness 
of  popular  courses  of  scientific  instruction ;  with  re- 
spect to  my  own  department,  this,  I  hope,  will  be 
clearly  evinced  in  another  part  of  the  present  dis- 
course. Of  late  years,  the  public  mind,  both  in  this 
country  and  abroad,  has  been  much  interested  in  the 
subject.  In  many  places  institutions  calculated  to 
render  useful  science  attainable  by  the  mass  of  society 
have  been  established;  and  such  is  the  growing  im- 


2Br.  22.]         INTRODUCTORY  LECTURE.  37 

pression  of  their  value  that  their  number  continues 
yearly  to  increase.  Our  own  city  has  not  been  back- 
ward in  this  career  of  improvement.  The  Maryland 
Institute  is,  I  believe,  the  second  in  point  of  seniority 
in  the  United  States,  and  has  now  been  upwards  of 
a  year  in  successful  operation.  During  this  period 
the  public  has  had  an  opportunity  of  testing  the  ad- 
vantages which  it  proffers.  And  may  not  its  friends 
believe  that  the  laudable  sentiments  which  led  to  its 
erection  have  been  more  extensively  and  permanently 
impressed  upon  the  public  mind  by  the  evidences  which 
it  has  already  afforded  of  its  useful  character  ?  May 
they  not  hope  that  it  has  become,  and  will  continue  to 
be,  an  object  of  the  kind  regard  and  fostering  care  of 
our  philanthropic  citizens;  that  it  will  be  cherished 
with  the  guardian  attention  which  was  in  ancient  times 
bestowed  upon  the  vestal  fire  whose  extinction  was 
thought  to  be  ominous  of  evil ;  and  that,  being  thus 
enabled  to  diffuse  the  light  of  useful  knowledge,  not 
only  among  ourselves  but  to  distant  places,  it  will, 
by  the  invaluable  results  to  which  it  may  in  time 
conduce,  assist  in  irradiating  with  splendour  the  city 
which  gave  it  birth  ?  " 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS   FATHER. 

BALTIMORE,  January  25,  1827. 

.  .  .  My  lectures  continue  to  be  well  attended.  On 
Monday  night  the  room  was  crowded.  I  am  at  pres- 
ent engaged  with  the  subject  of  astronomy,  and  have 
already  delivered  four  lectures  upon  it,  in  which  I 
have  been  much  assisted  by  an  admirable  tellurian 
which  has  been  loaned  to  me.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  give  you  an  idea  of  the  beauty  of  this  instrument. 
It  was  constructed  by  an  ingenious  young  mechanic 
in  this  place  a  few  years  ago,  and  has  since  been  in 
the  possession  of  a  teacher  of  a  female  school.  It  has 
suffered  much  injury  from  the  ill-usage  it  has  received, 
but  is  still  of  great  value  in  illustrating  many  impor- 


38          YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.  [1827. 

tant  points  in  astronomy.  It  exhibits  with  great  pre- 
cision the  relative  motions  of  the  earth,  the  moon,  and 
Venus  around  the  sun.  The  orbit  of  the  earth  is  a 
horizontal  circular  ring,  about  six  feet  in  its  exterior 
diameter  and  six  inches  broad,  upon  which  the  signs 
of  the  ecliptic  and  the  months  of  the  year  are  in- 
scribed. This  ring  stands  upon  four  legs.  The  sun 
is  a  large  gilt  globe  placed  upon  an  axis,  having  the 
proper  obliquity  to  the  ecliptic.  Venus  is  a  silvered 
ball.  The  earth  is  a  small  terrestrial  globe  of  about 
the  same  magnitude  as  that  which  we  used  to  attach 
to  a  string  and  move  around  a  candle.  The  paral- 
lelism of  the  earth's  axis  to  itself  is  maintained  in 
all  positions,  together  with  the  diurnal  and  annual 
motions.  A  brass  circle  encompassing  the  globe  in  a 
direction  perpendicular  to  the  ecliptic  presents  its  face 
always  to  the  sun,  and  serves  in  a  striking  manner  to 
distinguish  the  enlightened  from  the  dark  hemisphere. 
This  instrument  affords  a  clear  explanation  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  seasons,  and  the  variations  in  the 
lengths  of  days,  the  equation  of  time,  the  apparent 
motion  of  Venus  and  the  other  planets,  and  a  variety 
of  other  interesting  particulars.  As  a  means  of  il- 
lustration, I  think  it  is  infinitely  more  useful  than 
an  orrery  or  planetarium  of  the  same  magnitude. 
Embracing  but  a  few  planetary  bodies,  it  is  simple, 
and  the  movements  it  exhibits  are  conspicuous  at  a 
distance.  I  wish  you  could  see  it  in  operation.  I 
am  sure  you  would  desire  to  have  one  among  your 
apparatus. 

Dr.  Vethake  is  lecturing  on  the  gases.  I  confess  I 
do  not  admire  the  plan  of  his  lectures.  He  first  reads 
the  lecture  from  a  manuscript  book,  and  concludes 
with  the  experiments.  Do  you  conceive  this  a  judi- 
cious course  ?  It  is  objected  to  by  many  members  of 
the  class. 

James  is  well  and  apparently  in  good  spirits.  He  is 

a  great  hand  at  analysis.  Mr.  • is  becoming  more 

of  a  saint  every  day.  He  is  the  most  disgusting  canter 


M-t.  22.]  A  TELLURIAN.  39 

I  have  ever  seen.  Although  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Institute  he  seldom  attends,  preferring  to  be  present 
at  prayer-meetings,  class-meetings,  etc. 

I  have  become  acquainted  with  Dr.  Howard  and 
Colonel  Long,  of  the  U.  S.  Engineers.  They  are  very 
amiable  men.  I  have  been  surprised  to  see  the  crude- 
ness  of  their  scientific  knowledge  on  some  subjects. 
Where  principles  are  concerned,  I  have  the  vanity  to 
think  that  I  could  sometimes  set  them  right.  .  .  . 

WINDSOR,  January  30, 1827. 

DEAR  FATHER,  — Henry  received  a  letter  from  you 
about  three  weeks  ago.  It  was  a  very  interesting  one 
to  us.  We  had  been  desirous  of  knowing  the  state  of 
the  college,  and  it  gave  us  full  information  on  this 
point.  The  playf  ulness  of  some  parts  of  it  delighted 
us,  for  every  indication  that  you  are  happy  gives  us 
pleasure.  We  congratulate  you  upon  having  an  agree- 
able companion  in  Dr.  Wilmer.1  The  amiable  disposi- 
tion of  that  gentleman  must  be  particularly  pleasing 
from  the  contrast  it  forms  with  the  very  opposite 
character  of  his  predecessor.  It  is  like  a  mild,  ver- 
nal sunshine  succeeding  to  cold,  changeful,  blustering 
weather.  It  really  gives  us  great  satisfaction  to  know 
that  you  can  have  society  congenial  with  your  taste. 

...  As  has  but  one  student,  I  think  he  can 

lecture  from  no  other  motive  than  the  love  of  talking, 
which  is  with  him  a  very  powerful  passion.  So  fond 
is  he  of  the  music  of  his  own  voice  that  I  really  be- 
lieve, rather  than  omit  lecturing,  he  would  harangue 
the  desks  and  benches.  I  believe  his  lectures  have 
often  transformed  his  hearers  into  objects  hardly 
more  intellectual.  How  I  pity  the  luckless  wight 
who  must  sit  singly  for  three  long  hours  listening  to 
's  soporific  discussions  !  .  .  . 

1  President  of  William  and  Mary  College. 


40          YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.  [1827. 


HENRY   TO   HIS   FATHER. 

WINDSOR,  January  8,  1827. 

DEAK  FATHER,  —  William  had  expressed  a  wish  to 
write  to  you  shortly  after  the  receipt  of  your  pleasing 
letter.  I  therefore  deferred  writing  until  I  could  have 
something  worth  communicating.  .  .  . 

As  I  have  lately  felt  a  slight  recurrence  of  my 
dyspeptic  feeling,  Mr.  Fitzhugh  has,  with  his  habitual 
kindness  and  attention,  given  me  the  use  of  a  horse 
whenever  it  has  been  practicable.  Indeed,  I  can  never 
feel  sufficiently  grateful  for  the  disposition  to  oblige 
us  which  they  have  all  so  continually  evinced.  A  few 
weeks  ago  Mr.  Fitzhugh  procured  from  his  brother  in 
Baltimore  the  loan  of  a  very  fine-toned  violin  for  my 
use.  William  has  borrowed  his  cousin's  flute,  and  with 
the  aid  of  some  of  our  old  music  we  could  enjoy  our- 
selves extremely.  As  it  is,  we  frequently  play  in 
unison.  I  begin  to  look  forward  with  impatience  for 
the  return  of  summer,  that  it  may  afford  us  the  never- 
failing  pleasure  of  your  cheering  presence.  .  .  . 

The  prospect  now  arose  of  a  professorship  for  William 
in  the  Maryland  Institute  in  Baltimore :  — 


WILLIAM   TO   HIS    FATHER. 

BALTIMORE,  March  14,  1827. 

.  .  .  My  principal  object  in  this  letter  is  to  inform 
you  that  a  respectable  appointment  will  probably  be 
offered  to  me,  and  to  consult  you  with  regard  to  the 
propriety  of  accepting  it.  You  know  Mr.  Craig  has 
been  lecturing  during  the  winter  on  Natural  Philoso- 
phy in  the  Maryland  Institute.  Having  resolved  to 
remove  to  the  Western  country  he  intends  to  resign  his 
professorship,  and  to  endeavour  to  dispose  of  his  appa- 
ratus to^the  Institute.  I  have  lately  had  several  inter- 
views with  him,  and  he  has  told  me  that  if  the  Institute 
buys  his  apparatus  he  will  endeavour  to  have  me  ap- 


^T.  22.]  MARYLAND  INSTITUTE.  41 

pointed  his  successor,  if  I  desire  it.  With  this  view  he 
has  spoken  to  several  of  the  managers,  and  there  is 
much  probability  that  the  place  will  be  offered  to  me. 
There  will  be  some  salary  given,  but  for  the  first  year 
or  two  it  will  be  small.  The  institution  is  already 
more  prosperous  than  was  at  first  anticipated.  There 
are  at  present  600  members,  and  they  will  no  doubt 
greatly  augment.  Mr.  Craig  seems  very  anxious  that 
I  should  obtain  the  place,  and  had  proposed  me  before 
I  knew  anything  of  the  matter.  Henry  thinks  I  should 
eagerly  embrace  this  offer  if  it  is  made.  I  wish  to  know 
of  you  if  you  think  I  should  accept  the  appointment. 
Am  I  competent,  and  in  other  respects  would  it  be 
proper?  I  wish  to  do  exactly  as  you  will  counsel 


The  appointment,  however,  was  postponed,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  following  letter  from  William  to  his 
father : — 

BALTIMORE,  March  31, 1827. 

DEAR  FATHER,  ...  I  have  been  disappointed  in 
my  expectation  of  obtaining  a  situation  in  the  Institute. 
The  managers  after  a  great  deal  of  delay  have  informed 
Mr.  Craig  that  they  cannot  purchase  his  apparatus. 
They  have  been  endeavouring  to  collect  money  for  this 
purpose,  but  without  success.  I  think  if  they  possessed 
a  proper  spirit  they  would  buy  it  at  their  own  expense, 
rather  than  permit  the  institution  to  be  without  it. 
Had  they  purchased  it,  I  would  certainly  have  been 
appointed.  As  it  is,  I  presume  no  appointment  will 
be  made. 

Our  school  at  present  is  small.  Permanently  we  can- 
not look  for  more  than  a  decent  support  from  it.  We 
are  both  very  well  contented.  I  confess  I  would  have 
been  better  pleased  with  a  station  in  the  Institute,  and 
I  felt  much  satisfaction  in  the  anticipation  of  an  em- 
ployment so  congenial  to  my  taste.  It  was  with  great 
pleasure  I  read  your  account  of  the  improved  condition 


42  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.        [1827. 

of  the  college.  Nothing  would  be  more  gratifying  to 
me  than  to  see  William  and  Mary  attended  by  numer- 
ous classes  and  enjoying  the  reputation  it  deserves.  .  .  . 

One  reason  for  William's  anxiety  to  secure  the  place 
in  the  Maryland  Institute  appears  in  a  letter  from 
Henry  to  his  father,  dated  April  13,  1827.  Henry's 
treatment  of  the  professional  outlook  is  also  sug- 
gestive :  — 

HENRY   TO   HIS   FATHER. 

.  .  .  William  has  apprised  you  of  the  failure  of  his 
hopes  with  respect  to  the  Institute ;  nothing  further 
has  transpired,  and  I  think  nothing  will.  The  managers 
have  resolved  to  purchase  a  less  expensive  apparatus, 
not  thinking  it  advisable  to  buy  at  present  such  un- 
necessary and  costly  instruments  as  a  telescope  and 
microscope.  Whether  they  will  apply  to  William  or 
not  we  cannot  tell,  but  some  one  should  be  appointed, 
and  that  soon,  and  I  know  of  no  other  individual  here 
who  is  at  all  competent  to  fill  the  station.  They  appear, 
however,  so  little  interested  in  the  prosperity  and  so 
incompetent  to  the  management  of  the  Institute  over 
which  they  have  been  placed,  that  I  fear  it  will  soon 
fall  through.  It  would  have  been  a  fortunate  circum- 
stance for  us  both  had  William  been  successful,  as  I 
might  then  have  been  enabled  to  lay  by  a  couple  of 
hundred  dollars  every  year  towards  acquiring  a  profes- 
sion ;  but  now,  being  associated  together,  with  the  ex- 
penses of  two  and  little  better  than  the  income  of  one, 
we  cannot  look  forward  to  anything  higher  than  a 
country  school,  the  proceeds  of  which  are  both  small 
and  precarious.  The  school  yields  us  at  present  about 
five  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  we  may  calculate  on 
an  average  of  five  hundred.  This,  it  is  true,  is  amply 
sufficient  for  every  present  expense,  but  the  future  is 
also  to  be  thought  of.  Our  duties  are  light  and  our 
leisure  considerable ;  we  think,  therefore,  that  were  we 


2Er.  23.]  THE    WINDSOR  SCHOOL.  43 

once  entered  upon  the  study  of  a  profession  we  might 
prosecute  it  with  considerable  facility  and  but  little  ex- 
pense. We  expect  shortly  to  have  our  lodgings  and  our 
school  removed  to  old  Windsor,  where  we  can  prose- 
cute any  study  with  far  less  interruption.  We  would 
be  glad,  therefore,  to  have  some  certain  and  definite  ob- 
ject in  view,  but  it  is  difficult  to  fix  upon  the  choice  of 
a  profession,  both  law  and  medicine  are  so  greatly  over- 
done. In  Baltimore  there  are  no  less  than  ninety 
graduates  in  medicine.  This  is  enough  to  destroy  all 
confidence  of  success.  The  law  likewise  has  its  dif- 
ficulties, but  there  appears  to  be  in  this  State  a  better 
opening  at  the  bar.  To  a  young  man,  there  is  little 
prospect  of  success  in  medicine  unless  he  settles  in  an 
unhealthy  neighborhood,  and  to  us  health  will  always 
be  a  matter  of  the  first  consideration.  William  says 
he  will  write  to  you  soon,  and  deliver  his  thoughts  pro 
and  con  at  greater  length.  I  believe  he  has  abandoned 
all  thoughts  of  the  Institute.  James  has  received  a 
proposition  from  Mr.  Tyson,  but  what  it  is  I  do  not 
know.  I  suppose,  however,  he  has  written,  and  you 
know  more  of  the  matter  than  I  do.  When  we  saw 
him  last,  which  is  some  time  since,  he  appeared  to 
think  that  his  prospect  in  the  country  was  a  gloomy 
one.  .  .  . 


JAMES   TO   HIS   FATHER. 

April  20,  1827. 

DEAR  FATHER,  —  I  am  now  at  Windsor,  which  place 
I  have  visited  for  the  purpose  of  consulting  my  bro- 
thers upon  the  same  subject  I  desire  to  consult  you 
upon.  Isaac  Tyson,  the  chemical  manufacturer,  is 
desirous  that  I  take  the  same  office  in  the  factory 
which  I  had  last  summer.  He  is  willing  to  dispense 
with  a  written  contract,  and  would  substitute  in  its 
place  a  promise  to  the  same  amount.  With  any 
honest  man,  the  one  would  be  as  obligatory  as  the 
other.  He  has  made  arrangements  so  as  to  change 


44  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.          [1827. 

the  situation  of  the  experiment  room  to  a  more  airy 
and  agreeable  part  of  the  premises,  and  also  to  im- 
prove the  manufacture  of  chlorine,  so  as  to  render 
it  not  so  unpleasant  to  the  operator.  He  is  willing 
to  allow  only  350  dollars  salary  the  first  year  and  400 
the  second. 

Upon  reflecting  upon  my  present  prospect  and  situ- 
ation, and  consulting  with  my  brothers,  I  have  thought 
I  should  accept  the  situation.  For  a  long  time  I  have 
had  no  practice  to  attend  to. 

Your  affectionate  son, 

JAMES  B.  KOGEES. 

The  summer  vacation  at  the  college  followed  and 
appears  to  have  been  uneventful,  except  for  the  death 
of  Dr.  Wilmer,  President  of  William  and  Mary.  At 
the  opening  of  the  college  session  in  the  autumn,  an  In- 
troductory Address  was  delivered  by  Dr.  P.  K.  Rogers. 
Beginning  with  an  eulogium  of  Dr.  Wilmer,  Dr.  Rogers 
proceeded  to  a  careful  consideration  of  important  edu- 
cational questions.  From  this  part  of  his  address  a 
few  characteristic  paragraphs  are  quoted :  — 

"  In  the  most  extensive  acceptation  of  the  term,  Edu- 
cation comprehends  everything  —  whether  systematic 
or  accidental  —  which  contributes  to  develop,  improve, 
and  determine  the  powers  of  the  mind,  the  tenden- 
cies of  the  passions,  and  the  affections  of  the  heart. 

"  To  promote  the  happiness  of  the  individual,  to  raise 
him  to  the  higher  standard  of  worth  and  excellence,  to 
render  him  not  merely  a  harmless  but  a  valuable  mem- 
ber of  the  community  of  men,  to  give  him  the  disposi- 
tion and  the  power  to  be  useful  to  his  companions  in 
the  frequently  difficult  and  cheerless  journey  of  life,  and 
to  prepare  him  for  the  happiness  of  a  future  world,  are 
the  great  ends  to  be  kept  in  view  in  the  education  of 
every  human  being.  And  this  is  equally  true  whatever 


MT.  23.]        ADDRESS   OF  P.  K.  ROGERS.  45 

place  in  society  he  may  occupy,  from  the  humble  walk 
of  the  cottager  to  the  throne  of  national  authority.  .  .  . 

"  The  advantages  derived  from  the  science  of  natural 
philosophy  are  of  two  kinds,  indirect  and  direct.  The 
former  consists  in  a  happy  discipline  of  mind,  a  con- 
scious satisfaction  in  the  possession  of  a  species  of 
knowledge  which  increases  our  power  and  independ- 
ence, enlarged  views,  and  a  chastened  and  well-regu- 
lated imagination.  .  .  .  While  the  study  of  natural 
philosophy  restrains  the  thoughts  within  the  limits  of 
reality,  it  at  the  same  time  affords  abundant  scope  for 
the  sublimest  conceptions,  and  the  most  excursive  flights 
of  imagination.  Carrying  us  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
sense,  it  weakens  each  selfish  feeling,  by  interesting 
us  in  everything  around  us.  It  is  the  best  preparation 
for  the  study  of  mind  ;  for  the  rigour  with  which  its 
researches  are  conducted,  and  its  cautious  mode  of  rea- 
soning by  induction  or  inference  from  ascertained 
phenomena,  check  that  rage  for  verbal  disputation 
which  has,  from  the  time  of  Plato  to  our  own,  impeded 
the  progress  of  the  human  understanding.  .  .  . 

"  Metaphysics,  in  an  extended  sense,  may  be  con- 
sidered as  the  science  of  ultimate  induction.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  "  It  is  impossible  to  draw  a  definite  line  be- 
tween physics  and  metaphysics  as  applied  to  external 
things ;  nor  is  it  by  any  means  necessary.  But  in  all 
our  general  theories,  whether  philosophical  or  physio- 
logical or  theological,  the  mind  rests  at  last  on  some 
ultimate  conception  which  is  purely  metaphysical." 

Early  in  the  autumn  of  this  year  William  was  a 
second  time  appointed  to  lecture  in  the  Maryland 
Institute. 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS   FATHER. 

BALTIMORE,  October  31, 1827. 

...  I  have  just  received  a  reply  to  the  note 
which  I  addressed  to  the  Committee  of  Lectures  of 
the  Institute.  It  will  not  be  in  their  power  to  afford 


46  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.        [1827. 

more  than  two  hundred  dollars  to  each  lecturer.  This 
sum  will  be  guaranteed,  and  they  will  be  enabled  in 
time  to  enlarge  the  salary.  They  expect  two  lectures  a 
week  for  three  months.  I  wish  to  know  if  you  would 
advise  me  to  accept  the  situation  on  these  terms.  .  .  . 

BALTIMORE,  November  11,  1827. 

...  I  had  determined  to  engage  in  the  Institute 
before  your  letter  reached  me,  and  had  informed  the 
managers  that  I  would  accede  to  their  proposals.  .  .  . 
After  I  had  written  to  you  to  request  your  opinion,  I 
regretted  having  done  so,  and  thought  that  you  would 
be  best  pleased  that  I  should  judge  and  act  for  myself 
in  the  matter.  Henry's  health  at  present  is  as  good 
as  it  was  in  the  spring,  and  he  is  confident  of  his  abil- 
ity to  conduct  the  school  alone. 

BALTIMORE,  December  9,  1827. 

...  I  delivered  my  introductory  lecture  on  last 
Monday.  It  was  received  with  the  most  nattering 
applause,  and  although  my  colleague,  Dr.  Vethake,  is 
an  experienced  lecturer,  having  been  a  professor  at 
Carlisle,1  I  believe  I  did  not  sink  on  being  compared 
with  him.  On  Thursday  I  gave  the  first  lecture  of 
my  course,  which  I  have  understood  yielded  great  sat- 
isfaction. I  spoke  extemporaneously,  assisted  by  a 
few  heads  methodically  arranged.  .  .  . 

BALTIMORE,  December  27,  1827. 

I  am  progressing  with  my  lectures  in  the  Insti- 
tute, and  I  believe  the  class  is  well  pleased  with  them. 
Our  philosophical  apparatus  has  not  yet  arrived,  but  we 
expect  it  daily.  Henry  has  seen  a  list  of  the  articles 
which  have  been  ordered  for  the  Institute,  and  has 
probably  enumerated  some  of  them  to  you.  I  long  to 
obtain  the  handling  of  them.  If  I  had  the  use  of  them 
at  present,  I  am  confident  that  1  could  give  great  eclat 
to  our  Institution.  As  it  is,  though  I  do  not  possess  a 
single  philosophical  instrument,  my  lectures  are  very 
1  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pa. 


^ST.  23.]         SUCCESS  AS  A  LECTURER.  47 

well  attended.  My  class  is  at  least  as  great  as  that  of 
my  colleague,  who  has  a  tolerable  chemical  apparatus 
at  his  command.  I  make  great  use  of  the  blackboard, 
and  manage  to  communicate  the  more  obvious  princi- 
ples of  the  science  pretty  clearly  by  means  of  drawings 
and  diagrams.  My  last  lecture  treated  of  uniformly 
accelerated  and  retarded  motion  and  projectiles.  In 
the  preceding  lecture  I  exhibited  the  experiment  of  the 
guinea  and  feather  by  means  of  a  small  air-pump, 
which  was  lent  me  by  a  member  of  the  class,  and  this 
is  the  only  important  one  which  I  have  been  able  to 
produce  since  the  commencement  of  the  course.  .  .  . 


HENRY   TO   HIS    FATHER. 

BALTIMOKE,  January  1,  1828. 

.  .  .  Though  labouring  under  the  great  disadvan- 
tage of  want  of  apparatus,  William  is  still  able  to 
command  large  and  even  increasing  classes ;  that  of 
yesterday  evening  considerably  exceeded  two  hundred, 
a  larger  assembly  than  any  they  hitherto  had  had.  It 
appears  that  the  lecture-room  can  contain  only  about 
three  hundred  persons.  I  cannot  refrain  from  ex- 
pressing my  surprise  at  William's  great  success,  aided 
as  he  is  by  little  more  than  the  blackboard  and 
chalk.  . 


WILLIAM   TO   HIS   FATHER. 

BALTIMORE,  February  19, 1828. 

.  .  .  The  course  in  the  Institute  will  soon  terminate. 
Dr.  Vethake  will  conclude  his  lectures  on  Saturday 
week,  —  the  1st  of  March,  —  and  I  shall  finish  nearly 
at  the  same  time.  The  want  of  apparatus  has  com- 
pelled me  entirely  to  omit  several  subjects  in  my  de- 
partment. This,  though  a  matter  of  regret  to  me, 
may  prove  advantageous  to  my  course  in  the  winter, 
as  it  will  enable  me  to  give  it  an  air  of  novelty.  I 
have  really  been  surprised  to  see  my  lectures  so  well 


48  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.         [1828. 

attended,  though  entirely  destitute  of  the  usual  attrac- 
tions of  a  popular  course.  Last  week  I  lectured  upon 
the  tides  and  the  theories  of  the  earth.  I  took  occa- 
sion to  expose  the  absurdities  of  Captain  Symmes's 
hypothesis,  which  had  gained  many  advocates  in  Bal- 
timore, and  my  criticisms  appeared  to  excite  much 
interest  in  the  class.  There  is  some  talk  of  connect- 
ing an  English  and  Mathematical  School  with  the  In- 
stitute. It  is  highly  probable  that  this  will  be  effected 
in  the  ensuing  spring.  Should  it  be  soon,  the  man- 
agers are  desirous  that  I  should  undertake  the  man- 
agement of  the  school.  They  will  meet  on  Monday 
next,  when  I  shall  receive  more  definite  information 
on  this  subject.  I  think  when  I  have  completed  my 
course  I  will  pay  you  a  visit.  I  wish  to  see  the  old 
college,  and  particularly  your  apparatus-room,  and  I 
am  desirous  of  examining  the  electrical  instruments 
which  you  have  constructed.  .  .  . 

HENRY  TO   HIS   FATHER. 

BALTIMOBE,  April  12,  1828. 

...  I  have  been  less  punctual  in  writing,  as  Wil- 
liam has  personally  and  by  letter  informed  you  concern- 
ing my  health  and  whatever  else  it  would  interest  you 
to  know.  I  was  pleased  to  hear  that  you  advised 
my  joining  with  him  in  the  contemplated  school  to  be 
established  in  the  Institute.  This  change  of  circum- 
stances will  be  highly  acceptable,  as  I  foresee,  from 
its  present  declining  state,  that  I  would  have  to 
relinquish  my  present  establishment  in  the  country. 
My  connection  with  William,  though  it  must  for  the 
present  be  in  a  subordinate  capacity,  will  eventually 
redound,  I  think,  to  my  advantage.  Even  now  his 
reputation  is  considerable,  and  the  approaching  winter 
will  no  doubt  augment  it.  ...  William  is  at  pres- 
ent engaged  in  maturing  a  scheme  for  the  regulation 
of  the  school,  to  be  offered  to  a  committee  of  managers 
for  their  approval.  .  .  . 


23.]  MARYLAND  INSTITUTE.  49 


WILLIAM   TO   THE    GOVERNORS    OF  THE   MARYLAND 
INSTITUTE. 

BALTIMORE,  AprU  13, 1828. 

To  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  INSTITUTE  : 

Gentlemen,  —  In  obedience  to  your  request,  I  sub- 
mit the  following  hints  towards  a  plan  and  regulations 
for  the  High  School  about  to  be  established  in  the 
Maryland  Institute.  .  .  . 

1.  The  aim  of  the  school  being   to   impart   such 
knowledge  and  to  induce  such  habits  of  mind  as  may 
be  most  beneficial  to  youth  engaging  in  mechanical 
and  mercantile  employments,  the  study  of  mathematics 
will  be  an  object  of  primary  attention,  and  will,  it  is 
expected,  be  pursued  to  a  considerable  extent.     The 
earlier  classes  will  be  instructed  in  arithmetic,  read- 
ing, writing,  grammar  and  geography;  the  more  ad- 
vanced, in  algebra,  geometry,  mensuration,  surveying, 
navigation,  perspective,  etc.,  and  perhaps  in  English 
composition.     The  latter  grade  of  scholars,  after  hav- 
ing made  a  certain  proficiency  in  their  mathematical 
studies,  will  be  taught  the  elementary  principles  of 
astronomy,  mechanics,  natural  philosophy  and  chem- 
istry, and  will  be  permitted  to  attend  the  lectures  in 
the  Institute  in  aid  of  their  scientific  studies,  as  a 
reward  for  their  diligence  and  improvement. 

2.  Classical  studies  are  not  within  the  scope  of  the 
school. 

3.  The  number  will  be  limited  to  fifty. 

4.  To  obtain  admission  into  the  school,  the  pupil 
must  be  able  to  spell  correctly,    read  with    facility, 
write  a  fair  hand,  and  perform  arithmetical  computa- 
tions at  least  as  far  as  the  rule  of  three. 

5.  The  price  of  instruction  will  be  eight  dollars  per 
quarter,  in  which   the   expense  of  fuel,  pens,  slate- 
pencils  and  other  stationery,  and  books,  is  not  in- 
cluded. . 


50  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.        [1828. 

The  subject  of  railways  was  now  beginning  to  be 
actively  discussed,  and  William  early  contributed  to 
the  popular  interest  in  the  subject  by  experimental 
lectures  on  the  principles  involved. 


HENRY   TO   HIS   FATHER. 

BALTIMORE,  May  3, 1828. 

.  .  .  William  has  lately  delivered  to  very  crowded 
assemblies  a  couple  of  lectures  on  the  subject  of  Rail- 
roads, which  have  greatly  roused  the  attention  and 
gained  the  interest  of  the  people  here.  By  the  assist- 
ance of  some  beautiful  models,  he  rendered  them  both 
instructive  and  entertaining.  Indeed,  such  was  the 
eagerness  displayed  by  the  populace  to  become  better 
acquainted  with  the  principles  of  an  undertaking  in 
which  they  are  all  interested,  that  the  lecture-room 
could  not  contain  more  than  half  of  those  who  en- 
deavoured to  gain  admission.  This  he  finds  has  oper- 
ated favourably  in  advancing  his  new  undertaking, 
and  when  the  August  holidays  shall  have  freed  the 
children  from  their  existing  engagements  we  expect 
an  accession  that  will  fill  the  proposed  school  to  our 
limit  of  fifty.  William  will  write  in  a  few  days,  in- 
forming you  more  particularly  of  the  progress  we  are 
making.  ... 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS   FATHER. 

BALTIMOKE,  May  19,  1828. 

DEAR  FATHER,  —  I  received  your  letter  of  the  14th 
this  afternoon.  I  believe  the  "  low  spirits  "  of  which 
you  complain  is  inherent  in  the  family;  for  Henry  and 
myself  are  sometimes  affected  with  it,  although  we  have 
never  been  able  to  assign  a  reasonable  cause  for  our  de- 
pression. It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  in  your  situ- 
ation the  mind  should  occasionally  fall  into  this  state. 
It  is  the  natural  consequence  of  the  monotony  of  a 
village  life.  But  I  hope  a  visit  to  Baltimore  in  July 


.Ex.  23.]       A    VISIT  TO  PHILADELPHIA.  51 

will  exhilarate  you.  I  should  have  written  to  you  before 
this  to  inform  you  of  the  progress  of  our  plans,  but  I 
was  desirous  of  first  ascertaining  our  prospects  of  suc- 
cess. I  am  pleased  that  it  is  now  in  my  power  to  tell 
you  that  they  are  encouraging.  We  opened  school 
on  Monday  last  with  ten  pupils,  and  the  number  has 
since  been  augmented  to  seventeen.  In  addition  to 
these,  we  have  the  promise  of  many  others  who,  being 
engaged  in  other  schools,  cannot  with  propriety  be 
withdrawn  until  the  expiration  of  their  current  quar- 
ter. These  included,  our  list  numbers  about  twenty- 
four.  This  is  not  a  bad  beginning.  ...  I  have  no 
doubt  that  in  less  than  six  months  our  school  will 
be  in  a  very  flourishing  condition.  The  school-room, 
which  is  one  of  the  lower  apartments  in  the  Institute, 
fronts  on  Charles  Street,  and  is  airy  and  tolerably 
commodious.  Our  hours  of  duty  are  from  eight  to 
half  after  eleven  in  the  morning,  and  from  half  after 
two  to  five  in  the  afternoon,  making  six  hours  in  the 
day.  Robert,  who  left  the  country  last  week  and 
boards  with  us  at  Mr.  Trego's,  has  entered  the  school. 
He  appears  to  be  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  change, 
and  is  in  good  health  and  spirits.  The  week  before 
last,  Henry  and  I  paid  a  visit  to  Philadelphia  for  the 

Eurpose  of  inspecting  the  High  School  of  the  Frank- 
n  Institute.  We  remained  there  two  days,  and  would 
willingly  have  prolonged  our  stay  if  it  had  been  in  our 
power.  Philadelphia  has  greatly  increased  in  extent 
and  beauty  since  my  boyish  days,  yet  I  did  not  feel 
altogether  as  a  stranger  in  it.  I  soon  became  familiar 
with  its  streets,  and  recognized  many  scenes  of  my 
juvenile  frolics.  I  visited  the  parts  of  the  city  in 
which  we  used  to  reside,  and  felt  a  peculiar  interest 
in  viewing  the  house  in  Ninth  Street  and  the  old  Uni- 
versity. We  could  not  obtain  an  interview  with  Uncle 
James *  until  the  morning  of  our  departure.  He 

1  Mr.  James  Rogers,  a  merchant  of  Philadelphia,  often  referred  to 
later. 


52  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.        [1828. 

treated  us  with  cordiality,  and  expressed  a  wish  that 
we  would  make  a  longer  stay  in  the  city.  He  is  quite 
gray,  but  nevertheless  appears  to  enjoy  almost  youth- 
ful hilarity.  He  inquired  particularly  respecting  your 
health  and  situation.  .  .  . 


HENRY   TO   HIS   FATHER. 

BALTIMORE,  June  7,  1828. 

.  .  .  James  is  quite  well.  He  is  actively  employed 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  which  require,  indeed, 
through  the  day,  an  unremitting  application.  I  think 
he  displays,  from  his  success  in  many  delicate  and 
complicated  processes,  and  from  the  certainty  and 
accuracy  of  his  final  determinations,  no  ordinary  ac- 
quaintance with  the  difficult  operations  of  refined 
analysis.  Indeed,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  he  will 
one  day  be  among  the  first  practical  chemists  in  the 
country. 

I  feel  my  impatience  to  see  you  rapidly  increasing  as 
the  time  draws  near,  and  find  myself  daily  and  almost 
hourly  estimating  the  shortening  period  which  must 
elapse  before  that  time  arrives.  Secluded  as  I  am  in  a 
great  measure  from  any  society  in  which  I  could  mingle 
with  any  degree  of  comfort,  and  debarred  from  any 
substitute  I  might  find  in  books,  from  the  oppressive- 
ness of  the  season  and  the  effects  of  the  confinement 
attendant  upon  school,  I  am  continually  wishing  for 
your  enlivening  company.  I  feel  an  eager  longing  for 
those  cheerful  moments  which  an  intercourse  with  you 
has  never  failed  to  bring.  I  believe  I  shall  never 
cease  to  look  to  you  as  a  guardian  spirit.  The  sense 
of  security  which  I  always  have  when  possessing 
your  advice  has  afforded  me  many  of  my  happiest 
hours  ;  and,  now  that  I  am  embarking  in  an  arduous 
business,  the  value  of  your  counsel  will  be  highly 
prized.  I  hope  you  will  bring  with  you  your  violin 
and  music.  .  .  . 


J&r.  23.]  SCHOOL    WORK.  53 


WILLIAM   TO    HIS    FATHER. 


BALTIMORE,  June  26, 1828. 

DEAR  FATHER,  —  We  have  been  expecting  a  letter 
from  you  for  some  weeks,  and  have  become  apprehen- 
sive that  you  are  unwell.  I  hope  you  will  write  to  us 
immediately.  We  look  forward  with  pleasure  to  your 
arrival  in  Baltimore,  and  our  impatience  increases  as 
the  time  at  which  we  expect  you  approaches.  We  are 
all  pretty  well,  though  some  of  us  are  enfeebled  by  the 
warmth  of  the  season.  Robert  is  quite  hearty.  Henry 
and  I  have  found  our  engagement  very  fatiguing. 
We  have  recently  instituted  a  plan  in  the  school  which 
enables  us  to  relieve  each  other  on  alternate  days.  The 
mode  in  which  teaching  is  usually  conducted  renders 
it  as  servile  and  laborious  an  occupation  as  that  of  a 
ditcher.  Teachers  in  our  cities  find  it  necessary  to 
devote  the  whole  of  their  time  to  the  concerns  of  their 
occupation.  Some  of  them  keep  their  schools  open 
for  more  than  eight  hours  in  the  day.  Surely  their 
health  must  ultimately  sink  under  such  confinement. 
We  are  employed  in  the  school  only  six  hours,  and 
find  this  period  sufficiently  long. 

James  has  a  companion  in  his  chemical  engagements, 
—  a  young  gentleman  recently  from  France,  a  pupil 
of  the  celebrated  Thenard.  He  is  the  most  scientific 
young  man  I  have  ever  met.  With  an  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  chemistry,  theoretical  and  practical, 
and  a  knowledge  of  all  the  important  principles  of 
physical  science,  he  combines  a  large  fund  of  general 
information.  We  find  his  conversation  very  interesting. 
He  is  able  to  describe  from  personal  knowledge  many 
of  the  distinguished  scientific  characters  of  France  and 
England. 

You  have  perhaps  heard  of  the  solemnities  which 
are  to  take  place  on  the  4th  of  July.  On  that  day 
the  construction  of  our  railroad  will  be  commenced. 
A  procession,  in  which  all  professions,  dignities,  and 
trades  will  be  embodied,  will  march  through  the  city 


54  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.        [1828. 

to  the  spot  (about  two  miles  from  town)  at  which  the 
great  work  will  be  begun.  The  spectacle  will  no  doubt 
be  imposing.  The  mechanics,  merchants,  farmers,  doc- 
tors and  lawyers  have  been  busy  for  the  last  two  weeks 
in  making  arrangements  to  unite  in  the  procession.  On 
this  occasion  the  Freemasons  will  display  all  the  deco- 
rations and  paraphernalia  of  their  order ;  the  carpenters 
will  exhibit  the  implements  of  their  trade  and  a  house 
moved  on  wheels  ;  the  sailors,  a  full-rigged  ship,  trans- 
ported in  the  same  manner ;  and  it  is  said  that  the 
manufacturers  will  work  a  spinning  jenny  and  loom 
as  they  move  along,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  tailors 
will  produce  a  summer  coat  before  the  procession  has 
arrived  at  the  point  of  its  destination,  which  they  will 
present  to  old  Mr.  Carroll  to  be  worn  during  the  cere- 
monies of  the  day.  Mr.  Carroll,  who,  in  consequence 
of  the  estimation  in  which  his  public  services  during 
the  Revolution  are  held,  is  called  upon  to  officiate  on 
all  occasions  of  general  interest,  is  to  break  the  first 
ground  for  the  railroad  with  a  silver  trowel  and  pick. 
I  must  now  close  with  affectionate  wishes  for  your 
health  and  happiness. 

As  has  been  stated  in  the  previous  chapter,  Dr.  P. 
K.  Rogers  came  northward  this  year  as  usual  and 
was  stricken  by  malarial  fever  at  Ellicott's  Mills,  Md., 
where  he  died  on  August  1,  1828.  How  great  this 
"blow  was  to  his  sons  will  be  understood  by  those  who 
have  read  the  preceding  letters.  Two  months  after 
his  death,  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  William  was 
chosen  his  father's  successor  in  the  chair  of  Natural 
Philosophy  and  Chemistry  in  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege, and  thenceforward  became,  in  large  measure,  the 
head  of  the  family. 

Hon.  A.  H.  H.  Stuart,  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Patrick 
Rogers  and  a  life-long  friend  of  his  son  William  Bar- 
ton Rogers,  has  kindly  supplied  some  recollections  of 


JET.  24.]    RECOLLECTIONS   OF  P.  K.  ROGERS.      55 

Dr.    Rogers,   and   of   life  at  William  and  Mary  in 
1824-25,  as  follows:  — 

"  About  the  middle  of  October,  1824, 1  left  my  home 
in  Staunton,  Va.,  to  become  a  student  at  William  and 
Mary  College.  I  was  then  seventeen  years  and  a  few 
months  old.  The  Faculty  of  the  college  consisted  of 
Dr.  John  Augustine  Smith,  President;  Dr.  Patrick 
Rogers,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  Philoso- 
phy ;  Ferdinand  Campbell,  Professor  of  Mathematics ; 
and  Judge  James  Semple,  Professor  of  Law. 

"  Some  delay  was  caused  in  the  commencement  of 
the  exercises  of  the  college  by  the  great  celebration 
of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis,  which  was  held  at 
Yorktown  (twelve  miles  distant  from  Williamsburg) 
on  the  19th  of  October,  and  was  attended  by  General 
Lafayette. 

"  The  professors  were  all  men  of  ability  and  admir- 
ably qualified  for  the  duties  of  their  respective  posi- 
tions ;  but  the  financial  condition  of  the  State  and  other 
causes  tended  to  reduce  the  number  of  students  in  at- 
tendance to  about  thirty.  This  paucity  of  numbers  led 
to  a  more  free  and  familiar  intercourse  between  the 
students  and  the  professors,  and  with  each  other,  than 
would  have  existed  if  the  number  had  been  larger. 
There  was  no  regular  curriculum  in  force,  and  each 
student  was  at  liberty  to  select  the  studies  he  would 
pursue.  .  .  . 

"Dr.  Smith,  the  President,  resided  in  a  spacious 
brick  mansion,  known  as  the  '  President's  House,'  sit- 
uated on  the  north  side  of  the  lawn  of  four  acres 
which  lies  in  front  of  the  college.  Professor  Rogers 
occupied  a  similar  house  on  the  south  side  of  the  lawn, 
and  known  as  the  'Brafferton  House.'  The  other 
professors  lived  some  distance  from  the  college. 

"In  1824  Professor  Rogers  was  a  widower.  His 
family  consisted  of  four  sons,  viz.,  James,  William, 
Henry  and  Robert,  all  of  whom,  in  after  life,  became 
distinguished  scientists  and  professors.  James,  the 


56  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD.        [1828. 

oldest,  had  completed  his  education  and  left  Williams- 
burg  before  I  entered  college.  .  .  .  William  had  grad- 
uated with  great  distinction  a  year  or  two  before  I 
entered  college,  and  was  looked  up  to  with  the  respect 
and  almost  reverence  with  which  college  boys  regard 
those  who  have  won  high  college  honours. 

"Henry  was,  I  presume,  near  my  own  age.  We 
were  classmates  and  friends,  and,  although  it  so 
happened  that  we  did  not  meet  in  after  life,  I  noted 
with  great  pleasure  every  step  that  he  made  in  his 
onward  progress  to  the  success  and  distinction  which 
he  so  richly  merited.  Robert  was,  during  my  sojourn 
in  Williamsburg,  an  active,  vigorous,  and  sprightly 
schoolboy,  apparently  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  of 
age.  In  form  and  features  he  was  much  more  like  his 
father  than  either  of  his  brothers.  My  most  vivid 
recollection  of  him  is  as  a  diligent  flyer  of  kites  on 
the  lawn !  He,  like  his  brothers,  attained  great  distinc- 
tion. 

"Dr.  Patrick  Rogers,  at  the  time  I  became  ac- 
quainted with  him,  was  about  sixty,  or  possibly  sixty- 
five  years  of  age,  and  a  man  of  imposing  presence.  He 
was  about  six  feet  in  height  and  was  massively  framed. 
I  presume  he  must  have  weighed  from  180  to  200 
pounds.  His  hair  was  as  white  as  snow,  and  his  com- 
plexion ruddy  and  healthful,  and  contrasted  beautifully 
with  his  snow-like  hair.  His  face  was  distinctively 
Irish  in  its  general  appearance.  His  manner  was  de- 
liberate and  dignified,  but  courteous  and  affable.  In 
temperament,  I  judge,  from  the  readiness  with  which 
his  face  would  flush  with  each  emotion,  that  he  was 
sensitive  and  excitable.  He  was  devotedly  attached  to 
and  proud  of  his  sons,  and  on  more  than  one  occasion 
I  was  struck  with  the  interest  which  he  showed  in  the 
amusements  of  Robert.  .  .  . 

"  Dr.  Rogers  was  a  very  learned  man,  and  a  most 
able,  faithful  instructor,  and  seemed  desirous  of  keep- 
ing pace  with  the  events  of  the  day.  As  an  illus- 
tration, I  will  refer  to  a  single  interesting  incident. 


MT.  24.]     RECOLLECTIONS  OF  P.  K.  ROGERS.       57 

About  the  middle  of  the  session,  the  newspapers  of 
the  State  were  teeming  with  accounts  of  the  mysterious 
ringing  of  the  bells  in  the  elegant  mansion  of  Colonel 
John  Taylor,  of  Mount  Airy,  in  King  George  County. 
The  bells  would  commence  ringing  violently  all  over 
the  house  without  any  visible  human  agency,  or  cause 
for  so  doing ;  and  there  was  much  speculation  as  to 
the  true  cause.  In  a  few  days  thereafter,  when  the 
doors  of  Dr.  Rogers's  lecture-room  opened,  the  eyes  of 
the  students  were  greeted  with  the  extraordinary  spec- 
tacle of  a  whole  system  of  bells,  in  different  parts  of 
the  room,  ringing  in  concert,  without  any  apparent 
cause  for  their  activity.  After  we  had  looked  for  some 
time  at  the  wonderful  spectacle,  they  were  suddenly 
and  simultaneously  silenced,  and  the  professor  then 
proceeded  with  a  delightfully  instructive  lecture  to 
show  how  the  result  had  been  accomplished,  by  cur- 
rents of  positive  and  negative  electricity,  thereby  ex- 
plaining all  the  phenomena  connected  with  the  Taylor 
mansion  on  scientific  principles.  .  .  . 

"  Dr.  Rogers  lived  a  somewhat  secluded  life,  min- 
gling but  little  in  general  society.  His  time  was  de- 
voted to  study,  the  society  of  his  sons,  and  the  direction 
and  supervision  of  their  education.  He  enjoyed  the 
reputation  of  being  a  profound  scholar,  and  I  can 
bear  testimony  that  he  was  a  careful  and  faithful 
teacher,  singularly  successful  in  his  illustrative  experi- 
ments before  his  class." 


CHAPTER  in. 

PROFESSOR    OF    NATURAL    PHILOSOPHY    AND    CHEM- 
ISTRY AT  WILLIAM  AND   MARY   COLLEGE. 

1828-1835. 

William  succeeds  his  Father.  —  His  Introductory  Address.  —  Corre- 
spondence of  the  Brothers.  —  Life  in  Williamsburg.  —  Henry  ap- 
pointed Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  Philosophy  in  Dick- 
inson College.  —  James  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  a  Baltimore 
Medical  College.  —  His  Marriage.  —  Henry  leaves  Dickinson  Col- 
lege. —  With  Robert,  is  engaged  on  Railroad  Surveys  in  New 
England.— The  Cholera.  —  William  visits  North  Carolina.  —  Nar- 
rowly escapes  Drowning.  —  Henry  visits  England.  —  His  Impres- 
sions of  English  Men  of  Science.  —  He  returns  to  Philadelphia  and 
lectures  on  Geology  at  the  Franklin  Institute.  —  Geological  and 
Chemical  Investigations  of  the  Brothers.  —  Henry  appointed  Pro- 
fessor in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  —  Proposals  for  Geological 
Surveys.  —  Appointment  of  William  to  a  Professorship  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  it  was  the  custom  at 
William  and  Mary  College  for  a  professor  to  mark 
the  formal  opening  of  the  year  by  an  introductory 
address.  In  the  previous  year  (1827)  this  address 
was  delivered  by  Dr.  Patrick  Rogers,  who  began  by 
eulogizing  his  lately  deceased  friend,  Dr.  Wilmer, 
President  of  the  College,  and  passed  on  to  remarks 
on  education,  some  of  which  were  quoted  in  the  last 
chapter. 

By  a  chain  of  natural  causes  William  Barton 
Rogers,  now  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  in  the 
Maryland  Institute,  and  already  well  known  as  a 


^ET.  24.]    CANDIDATE  FOR  A  PROFESSORSHIP.     59 

successful  teacher  and  lecturer,  himself  a  graduate 
of  distinction  of  William  and  Mary  College,  was 
chosen  to  be  his  father's  successor,  and  the  duty  of 
making  the  opening  address  in  1828  devolved  upon 
him. 

The  election  occurred  on  October  13,  1828,  but 
before  that  time,  in  accordance  with  a  custom  prevail- 
ing at  the  college,  the  young  man  and  his  friends 
secured  and  forwarded  to  the  governors  numerous 
testimonials  in  his  favor.  In  this  connection  the  fol- 
lowing letters  are  of  interest :  — 


HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

BALTIMORE,  October  1,  1828. 

DEAR  WILLIAM,  —  I  received  on  Saturday  last 
your  interesting  letter,  and  immediately  set  about 
executing  the  commissions  it  contains.  On  Sunday  I 
had  some  conversation  with  Mr.  Hasard,  in  which  he 
appeared  to  enter  warmly  into  your  interests,  engaging 
himself  to  procure  forthwith  the  credentials  of  the 
engineers,  Colonel  Long  and  Dr.  Howard,  —  the  latter 
of  whom  I  find  is  at  present  in  town,  —  and  promising 
at  the  same  time  to  convene  the  managers  as  soon  as 
practicable,  in  order  to  procure  from  them  as  a  body 
collectively  the  testimonials  which  you  have  desired. 
This  was  done  last  night,  and,  upon  my  mentioning  to 
them  in  a  note  your  wishes,  they  passed  a  resolution 
authorizing  the  secretary,  Mr.  Latrobe,  to  draw  up  a 
letter  to  be  signed  by  the  chairman,  Mr.  Lucas,  and 
himself,  on  behalf  of  the  board  as  a  body.  I  suc- 
ceeded on  Monday  in  seeing  Dr.  McAulay,  and  was 
cordially  received.  I  then  saw  Dr.  Potter,  who,  with 
equal  politeness,  has  afforded  his  attestation,  protest- 
ing characteristically  that,  had  he  been  aware  of  your 
views  and  wishes,  he  would  have  voluntarily  afforded 
you  his  name.  You  have  therefore  letters  from  Drs. 


60  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1828. 

Baker  and  Potter  and  two  from  the  engineers,  together 
with  general  ones  from  our  managers  and  the  Faculty 
of  Washington  College.1 

Dear  William,  inform  me  soon  of  the  aspect  of 
your  affairs,  for  I  feel  a  powerful  interest  in  the  result 
of  your  exertions.  I  have  heard  many  persons  ex- 
press their  deep  regret  at  the  likelihood  of  your 
removal  to  Virginia,  and  some  of  them,  I  suppose,  are 
looking  around  them  in  despair  for  some  individual  to 
supply  your  place.  One  or  two  with  whom  I  have 
conversed  have  looked  to  me,  thinking  me  the  only 
-alternative  they  have.  Mr.  Hasard,  who  is  anxious 
for  the  preservation  of  the  school  and  is  really  desir- 
ous that  the  Institute  should  flourish,  has  suggested  to 
me  the  expediency  of  remaining  here,  saying  there  can 
be  little  doubt  of  my  succeeding  you ;  that  I  could 
employ  an  assistant  in  the  school ;  and  that,  with  the 
aid  of  the  expected  apparatus,  he  did  not  question  my 
ability  to  afford  them  ample  satisfaction.  This  is  a 
subject  which  I  wish  you  to  revolve  well  in  your  mind, 
and  on  which,  when  you  have  leisure,  to  express  your 
full  and  decided  opinion. 


BALTIMORE,  October  3. 

In  fulfillment  of  the  promise  stated  in  the  envelope 
of  the  package  which  I  forwarded  the  day  before  yes- 
terday, I  now  transmit  a  very  gratifying  letter  drawn 
up  by  Colonel  Long,  and  signed  by  himself  and  Cap- 
tain McNiel.  I  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  hear  from 
Mr.  Hasard,  who  has  been  active  in  procuring  this 
letter,  that  it  is  the  opinion  of  both  those  engineers, 
with  whom  he  himself  agrees,  that  your  ultimate  ad- 
vancement would  be  more  promoted  by  your  remain- 
ing here.  They  state  that  there  is  now  opening  in 
this  country  an  extensive  field  for  highly  respectable 
and  lucrative  exertion  in  the  growing  spirit  for  works 
of  internal  improvement  demanding  the  superintend- 
1  The  medical  college  in  which  James  taught. 


JET.  24.]     WILLIAM  SUCCEEDS  HIS  FATHER.       61 

ence  of  scientific  men.  This  I  have  thought  it  my 
duty  to  communicate,  and  shall  for  the  same  reason 
suppress  my  own  opinion. 

The  college  was  formally  opened  on  October  27, 
and  on  November  12  there  appeared  in  the  "  Phosnix 
Ploughboy,"  published  in  Williamsburg,  a  report  of 
the  young  professor's  introductory  address,  prefaced 
by  an  editorial  comment :  — 

"  The  following  address  of  Professor  Rogers,  intro- 
ductory to  his  course  of  natural  philosophy,  was  de- 
livered a  few  days  ago  in  the  College  of  William  and 
Mary  to  a  numerous  and  attentive  assemblage  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen.  We  could  not  avoid  listening 
to  our  youthful  professor  with  lively  emotions,  as,  with 
the  animated  warmth  of  true  filial  sensibility,  he  ad- 
verted to  the  recent  melancholy  event  which  had  left 
that  chair  vacant  to  which  he  was  now  appointed  by 
the  Visitors  of  the  Institution."  .  .  . 

ADDRESS   OF   PROFESSOR   ROGERS. 

In  entering  upon  the  duties  which  have  been  de- 
volved upon  me  by  the  governors  of  this  institution, 
I  am  impressed  with  feelings  which  it  is  difficult  to 
describe,  —  feelings  that  arise  from  the  peculiar  rela- 
tionship in  which  I  stand  to  the  revered  individual 
whom  I  have  succeeded. 

To  have  returned  to  the  scenes  of  my  early  youth 
—  scenes  hallowed  in  my  bosom  by  every  fond  and 
pleasurable  sentiment ;  to  be  enabled  to  renew  the  de- 
lightful associations  which  even  the  absence  of  sev- 
eral years  has  but  slightly  impaired  ;  to  tread  again 
within  these  consecrated  precincts,  where  at  every  step 
the  remembrances  of  former  years  are  awakened  into 
animated  existence,  and  where  the  very  air  I  breathe 
seems  almost  to  speak  of  companions  dear  to  my  affec- 
tions, of  social  study  and  collegiate  ambition  —  is,  I 


62  WILLIAM  AND  MARY   COLLEGE.        [1828. 

confess,  attended  with  emotions  of  the  purest  and 
liveliest  satisfaction.  And  I  may  be  permitted  to  add 
that  these  sentiments  are  heightened  by  reflecting 
on  the  circumstances  in  which  I  am  about  to  renew 
my  connection  with  these  scenes,  and  to  become  again 
an  inmate  in  the  halls  of  my  venerable  Alma  Mater. 
But,  alas !  mournful  considerations  sadden  these  re- 
flections, and,  indulging  in  them,  gratification  is  con- 
verted into  grief. 

To  your  sensibilities  I  will  commit  the  task  of 
appreciating  the  feelings  I  experience  when,  with  the 
affections  of  a  cherished  son  and  pupil,  I  view  the 
objects  that  surround  me,  associated  as  they  all  are 
with  the  recollections  of  a  venerated  parent  and  pre- 
ceptor. Should  I  conduct  you  to  the  apartments  in 
which  for  a  series  of  years,  with  the  calm  dignity  of 
true  philosophy,  he  imparted  to  his  pupils  whatever  is 
useful  or  sublime  in  physical  science ;  should  I  display 
to  your  view  the  beautiful  collection  of  philosophical 
instruments  in  which  he  took  such  pride,  arranged 
with  characteristic  neatness  and  symmetry,  and  in 
some  degree  the  products  of  his  own  ingenuity  and 
zeal,  —  you  would  feel  these  traces  of  his  recent  pres- 
ence with  a  melancholy  force,  and  friendship  would 
sympathize  with  filial  tenderness  in  the  engrossing 
sorrow  of  the  scene. 

Were  I  gifted  with  the  chastened  though  pathetic 
eloquence  which  flowed  spontaneously  from  his  pen ; 
could  I  imitate,  even  at  an  humble  distance,  the  touch- 
ing pathos  with  which  at  the  opening  of  the  last  course 
he  paid  the  tribute  of  grateful  eulogy  to  a  colleague 
dear  to  Williamsburg,  to  the  college,  and  to  himself,  — 
I  would  gladly  present  you  with  a  picture  of  his  diver- 
sified excellencies  worthy  of  such  a  subject.  But  I 
feel  myself  inadequate  to  the  task.  Nor  is  it  neces- 
sary that  I  should  attempt  it.  I  feel  assured  that  by 
those  of  you  who  knew  him  his  memory  will  not  be 
forgotten.  But  his  intellectual  qualifications  and  at- 
tainments, his  humane  sensibilities,  his  paternal  regard 


JET.  24.]          INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS.  63 

for  the  youth  under  his  preceptorship,  his  devotion  to 
the  interests  of  the  college,  his  candor,  his  innocent 
simplicity  of  heart,  his  inflexibility  of  principle,  and 
the  lofty  spirit  of  independence  which  shone  in  all  his 
thoughts  and  actions,  will  long  be  cherished  in  your 
affections,  and  his  name,  in  association  with  that  of 
his  late  revered  colleague,  will  continue  to  be  repeated 
with  eulogy  by  those  who  shall  have  the  interests  of 
this  institution  at  heart,  until  these  ancient  halls  shall 
have  ceased  to  be  visited  by  the  votaries  of  know- 
ledge, or  until  whatever  is  eminent  in  intelligence  or 
exalted  in  moral  character  shall  have  ceased  to  be 
subjects  of  admiring  and  grateful  recollection. 

I  trust,  in  thus  giving  expression  to  the  feelings 
which  arise  from  the  circumstances  in  which  I  am 
placed,  I  shall  not  be  regarded  as  an  ostentatious 
panegyrist,  or  an  obtrusive  claimant  of  your  sym- 
pathies. I  have  felt,  in  assuming  the  functions  but 
recently  exercised  by  my  beloved  father  in  the  college, 
that  some  offering  of  the  heart  was  due  to  his  mem- 
ory, and  demanded  as  well  by  the  warmth  of  filial 
affection  as  by  a  sense  of  the  obligations  of  justice 
and  filial  duty. 

But,  quitting  a  theme  upon  which,  however  natural, 
it  is  profitless  to  dwell,  I  would  for  a  moment  address 
myself  to  those  who  are  about  to  become  inmates  of 
this  institution.  Towards  you,  gentlemen,  I  am  hence- 
forth to  be  placed  in  a  relation  of  the  most  interesting 
character,  one  in  which  my  interests  will  be  in  a  great 
measure  mutual  with  your  own,  and  in  which  the  hap- 
piness and  success  of  both  will  be  much  promoted  by 
a  continued  reciprocation  of  kindness,  friendship  and 
esteem.  You  must  be  aware  that  on  my  part  such 
a  relation  involves  duties  of  an  important  and  some- 
times extremely  delicate  nature,  —  duties  embracing 
not  merely  the  judicious  fulfillment  of  a  course  of 
scientific  instruction,  but  the  enforcement  of  those 
laws  which  have  been  established  for  the  regulation 
of  the  college,  and  with  the  observance  of  which  your 


64  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1828. 

collegiate  acquisitions  and  subsequent  advancement 
in  life  are  not  less  intimately  connected  than  the  repu- 
tation and  prosperity  of  the  institution  to  which  you 
are  attached. 

In  assuming  my  functions  in  the  college,  it  is  nat- 
ural that  I  should  be  desirous  of  conciliating  your 
respect  and  kind  regard.  I  would  fondly  hope  that 
the  mantle  which  has  descended  to  me,  though  no 
longer  graced  by  the  paternal  character  with  which 
age  had  invested  my  predecessor,  may  still,  through 
a  zealous  devotion  to  your  interests,  be  viewed  with 
reverence  and  affectionate  estimation.  From  my  own 
experience  as  a  student  of  this  college,  I  am  aware  of 
the  feelings  with  which,  under  certain  circumstances, 
even  the  noblest  and  most  ingenuous  youths  are  ac- 
customed to  regard  the  collegiate  authorities.  I  know 
they  do  not  always  advert  to  the  community  of  inter- 
est by  which  the  preceptor  and  pupil  are  naturally 
united  to  each  other,  but  sometimes  look  with  dissat- 
isfaction, if  not  hostility,  upon  those  who  certainly 
should  be  among  their  best  and  most  valued  friends. 
Such  feelings  are  much  to  be  deprecated,  and  I  sin 
cerely  desire  never  to  become  the  object  of  them.  It 
is,  therefore,  that  I  would  here  willingly  begin  that 
intercourse  of  kindness  and  mutual  confidence  which 
I  shall  ever  labor  to  maintain,  by  giving  you  the  as- 
surance that  I  shall  esteem  it  my  duty,  as  it  will  be 
my  delight,  by  every  means  within  my  power,  to  con- 
tribute to  the  success  of  your  studious  pursuits,  and 
to  your  general  happiness  and  welfare,  and  by  claim- 
ing from  you  in  return  a  share  of  that  cordial  good- 
will which,  with  generous  ardor,  you  dispense  to  your 
associates  in  letters,  and  your  participants  in  study, 
emulation  and  honour. 

After  these  remarks,  which  I  trust  will  be  received 
in  the  spirit  in  which  they  have  been  dictated,  I  would 
solicit  your  attention  to  the  views  which  I  shall  pre- 
sent in  illustration  of  the  history,  nature  and  utility 
of  Physical  Science  generally,  and  particularly  that 


^T.  24.]  A   FILIAL    TRIBUTE.  65 

department  of  it  which  is  usually  denominated  Natural 
Philosophy.  In  presenting  these  views  I  propose,  — 

first.  To  allude  to  the  relative  proficiency  of 
the  ancient  and  modern  worlds  in  Science  and  the 
Arts. 

Secondly.  To  exhibit  some  general  ideas  in  rela- 
tion to  the  material  world ;  and, 

Thirdly.  After  defining  the  science  of  Natural 
Philosophy,  and  tracing  the  limits  which  separate  it 
from  Chemistry,  to  adduce  a  variety  of  illustrations 
to  evince  its  utility.  .  .  . 

Among  the  letters  of  congratulation  upon  his  ap- 
pointment, the  first  which  we  find  came  from  his 
uncle,  James  Rogers,  of  Philadelphia.  After  the  death 
of  the  father,  this  uncle  plays  an  important  part  in 
the  family  affairs.  He  is  described  as  having  been  a 
gentleman  of  courtly  and  most  agreeable  manners. 
His  friendly  attitude  towards  the  orphan  brothers  is 
illustrated  by  the  following  postscript  of  a  letter  ad- 
dressed to  Henry  some  months  later :  "  At  all  times 
command  my  services  and  my  money  too.  So  long 
as  used  and  necessary  for  your  comfort  or  respecta- 
bility, I  tender  you  both." 

His  letter  to  William  was  as  follows :  — 


JAMES   ROGERS,   ESQ.,   TO   HIS   NEPHEW  WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  October  29,  1828. 

MY  DEAR  WILLIAM,  —  I  congratulate  you  upon 
your  success  in  obtaining  the  situation  in  William 
and  Mary  lately  filled  by  your  much-lamented  father. 

While  we  all  mourn  the  great  bereavement  we 
suffer  in  the  loss  of  so  near  and  beloved  a  relative,  I 
feel  some  consolation  in  the  assurance  that  his  excel- 
lent example,  devotedness  and  great  attention  to  the 
education  and  morals  of  his  sons  will  be  treasured  up 


66  WILLIAM  AND  MARY   COLLEGE.         [1828. 

by  them  as  a  most  invaluable  inheritance.     I  am  anx- 
ious to  know  how  your  brothers  are  occupied.  .  .  . 


HENTIY   TO    WILLIAM. 


BALTIMORE,  November  3,  1828. 

It  is  really  to  me  a  source  of  the  proudest  exul- 
tation that,  by  the  mere  influence  of  unpatronized, 
unobtrusive  merit,  James  and  yourself  are  likely 
to  acquire  well-founded  respectability  and  a  perma- 
nent success.  Continue,  William,  to  exercise  the  same 
prepossessing  disposition  which  has  gained  for  you 
here  many  real  friends,  and  you  will  grow  in  the  re- 
spect of  your  colleagues  and  the  students,  and  inspire 
in  the  inhabitants  a  deep-rooted  and  enduring  attach- 
ment. Their  sympathizing  veneration  for  the  exalted 
character  of  our  father  sways  my  mind  with  a  grati- 
tude more  powerful  than  I  deemed  myself  capable  of 
entertaining,  and  their  regard  for  Robert  oppresses 
me  with  a  softened  love. 

During  the  past  week  I  attended  most  of  the  intro- 
ductory lectures  in  each  of  the  rival  schools,  and  dis- 
covered a  vast  superiority  in  those  delivered  by  James 
and  his  coadjutors.  James  surprised  and  fascinated 
his  auditory,  without  one  exception.  To  me  it  was  a 
most  gratifying  spectacle  to  witness  the  rapt  and  ap- 
proving attention  of  many  who  were  unprepared  for 
such  an  intellectual  treat.  I  could  read  in  the  accord- 
ing smiles  and  tokens  of  the  professors  their  high  esti- 
mation of  his  abilities,  and  the  pleasure  they  received 
from  his  elegant  production. 

The  reference  to  James  in  this  letter  shows  that 
he  had  already  begun  his  connection  with  a  medical 
school,  lately  opened  in  Baltimore  as  a  rival  to  an 
older  and  well-established  school.  James's  hopes  of 
success  in  this  lectureship,  though  brilliant  in  the 
beginning,  soon  faded,  and  both  he  and  Henry  sought 


^T.  24.]  LETTERS  FROM  HENRY.  67 

for  places  in  the  Maryland  Institute.  Their  letters 
during  this  period  to  William,  who  now  had  an  as- 
sured position,  are  numerous,  and  alternately  buoyant 
with  hope  and  heavy  with  discouragement.  But  how- 
ever dark  the  outlook,  they  never  sought  counsel  of 
William  without  obtaining  a  sympathetic  response. 


HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

BALTIMORE,  November  14,  1828. 

I  have  attended  the  post-office  for  some  days  past 
in  anxious  expectation  of  receiving  a  letter,  but  until 
to-day  have  always  returned  disappointed  and  dis- 
heartened  

Dear  William,  I  have  been  subject  for  two  weeks 
past  to  the  most  deep  despondence.  A  sense  of 
friendless  destitution  is  ever  rising  to  shadow  with 
its  gloom  my  liveliest  aspirings ;  it  requires  for  its 
suppression  the  utmost  exertion  which  my  fortitude 
can  sustain.  Oh,  how  I  sometimes  deplore  the  neces- 
sity of  my  absence  from  you!  each  succeeding  day 
seems  only  to  heighten  my  regret.  You  will  not  think 
me  unreasonable  in  my  repining  when  you  reflect  on 
my  utter  loneliness,  —  on  the  harassing  incertitude 
of  mind  arising  from  the  inexplicable  delay  in  the 
arrival  of  the  apparatus,  and  on  the  precarious  con- 
dition of  my  health. 

Scarcely  a  half  hour  elapses  but  my  mind  steals 
insensibly  away  from  its  occupation,  to  dwell  in  mus- 
ing on  you  and  Robert,  surrounded  as  you  are  by  the 
tranquillizing  yet  animating  influence  of  your  own 
avocations,  so  happily  blended  with  the  refined  society 
around  you.  I  cannot  think  of  Robert,  with  his  gen- 
tle, tender  disposition,  but  a  rising  gush  of  feeling 
overcomes  me.  Do  be  explicit  about  his  health  and 
welfare.  Let  him  know  that  I  cherish  towards  him, 
as  towards  yourself,  an  affection  that  agitates  me  when 
solitary  with  an  irrepressible  solicitude.  ...  I  feel 


68  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.          [1828. 

in  your  absence  a  void  of  all  the  objects  of  my  regard  ; 
and  in  the  spontaneous  swellings  of  a  long-cherislied 
love  I  vainly  seek  for  something  to  allay  its  fervour 
in  giving  it  direction.  I  never  thought  till  now  that 
I  could  derive  gratification  from  caressing  a  dog.  .  .  . 

If  you  knew  the  uncontrollable  eagerness  with  which 
I  expected  a  letter  by  each  mail  for  the  last  six  days, 
and  the  sharp  disappointments  which  attended  my  ap- 
plications at  the  office,  you  would  find  time  to  give  me 
at  least  some  intimation  of  yours  and  Robert's  health. 

Dear  brothers,  the  most  unbounded  love  to  both. 
Farewell.  HENRY. 


WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

WIL.LIAMSBUKG,  December  6,  1828. 

DEAR  BROTHER,  —  The  disappointment  with  which 
I  perused  the  beginning  of  your  last  letter  was  mingled 
with  a  sentiment  of  indignation  at  the  culpable  neglect 
which  has  marked  the  conduct  of  the  Managers  of  the 
Institute.  Yet,  while  a  sympathy  in  your  hopes  and 
your  laudable  ambition  to  become  eminent  rendered 
the  information  contained  in  your  letter  painfully  dis- 
appointing, the  prospect  of  welcoming  you  to  our  Vir- 
ginia home,  and  of  enjoying  society  once  more  so 
peculiarly  congenial  to  my  feelings,  more  than  counter- 
balanced these  unpleasant  sentiments,  and  induced  me 
almost  to  wish  that  there  was  no  longer  even  a  pos- 
sibility of  the  arrival  of  the  apparatus,  or  of  the  occur- 
rence of  any  circumstance  which  might  protract  your 
absence. 

I  trust,  in  the  event  of  the  non-arrival  of  the  appa- 
ratus, you  will  not  hesitate  to  leave  Baltimore  immedi- 
ately. Your  health  and  enjoyment  would  be  greatly 
enhanced  by  a  residence  in  hospitable  old  Williams- 
burg.  You  might  prosecute  your  studies  at  leisure 
with  the  facilities  which  the  college  would  furnish,  and 
improve  your  qualifications  for  situations  similar  to 
that  which  you  have  been  expecting  in  the  Institute. 


^ET.  24.]      DIFFICULTIES  IN  LECTURING.  69 

It  is  indeed  almost  the  only  wish  of  my  heart  which  is 
not  fulfilled  that  we  might  all  live  together.  ...  I 
have  just  concluded  my  lectures  on  caloric,  to  my  own 
satisfaction,  and,  I  am  well  assured,  in  a  manner  agree- 
able to  the  class.  No  little  difficulties  arising  from 
want  of  instruments,  or  from  imperfection  in  those  we 
possess,  or  any  other  trival  circumstances  connected 
with  my  duties,  give  me  the  slightest  uneasiness  or 
perplexity.  I  employ  every  accessible  means  of  illus- 
trating my  subject  in  an  intelligible  manner,  and  when 
instruments  fail  me  I  have  recourse  to  explanations. 
The  want  of  apparatus  is  certainly  a  serious  difficulty 
in  the  way  of  a  lecturer.  But  I  believe  that  one 
course  delivered  under  these  circumstances  is  of  more 
value  as  an  exercise  to  the  professor  than  half  a  dozen 
assisted  by  the  usual  auxiliaries. 

Both  James  and  Henry  finally  obtained,  and  filled 
for  a  time,  the  places  which  they  coveted  in  the  Mary- 
land Institute,  the  former  the  lectureship  on  Chemis- 
try, the  latter  that  on  Natural  Philosophy,  though  in 
Henry's  case  at  a  reduced  stipend  ($150  for  three 
months'  service).  Accordingly,  William's  cordial  offer 
of  refuge  to  the  latter  was  not  accepted  and  the 
winter  was  spent  in  Baltimore.  Thus  it  happened 
that  here  Henry  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Miss 
Fanny  Wright,  an  apostle  of  Fourierism,  of  whom  he 
writes  to  William :  — 

"  The  populace  of  Baltimore  throughout  all  last  week 
have  been  wonderstruck  by  the  matchless  eloquence  of 
a  most  daring  reformer.  Miss  Frances  Wright,  a 
coadjutor  of  Owen  the  Harmonist,  and  joint  conductor 
with  him  of  the  '  Harmony  Gazette,'  an  infidel  in  all 
religion  and  an  avowed  opponent  of  existing  institu- 
tions, has,  in  association  with  a  gentleman  of  the  name 
of  Jennings,  been  preaching  a  crusade  throughout  the 


70  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.          [1828. 

chief  of  the  Atlantic  cities.  A  prodigy  in  learning,  in 
intellect  and  in  courage,  she  awes  into  deference  the 
most  refractory  bigots.  .  .  . 

"  Unable,  through  the  narrow-minded  policy  of  the 
proprietors,  to  procure  the  use  of  any  other  room  suf- 
ficiently capacious,  she  was  compelled  to  lecture  in  the 
Belvidere  Theatre.  Fancy  a  woman  nearly  six  feet 
high,  majestic  in  her  mien,  and  with  a  countenance  be- 
tokening a  long  indulgence  in  the  most  refined  and  phi- 
losophic thought,  with  her  short  hair  unbound  and  in 
ringlets  on  a  head  which  would  have  graced  Minerva, 
standing  before  a  multitude  in  the  delivery  of  strains 
written  in  a  style  of  unsurpassed  elegance,  and  deliv- 
ered with  a  grace  which  Dr.  Barber  could  not  equal : 
—  think,  William,  that  I  witnessed  this  and  much 
more  in  reality,  and  then  I  think  you  will  excuse  my 
fervour.  But  I  am  unjust  in  withholding  the  men- 
tion of  her  rarest  peculiarities.  To  be  more  explicit  in 
my  account,  her  native  country  is  Scotland,  and  her 
birthrights  were  wealth  and  all  the  refined  luxuries  of 
aristocratic  Europe,  but  for  her  noble  intellect  these 
seem  to  possess  no  fascinations ;  from  her  early  youth 
she  forsook  them  to  devote  her  time  to  study  in  all 
branches,  even  the  abstrusest.  Well  versed  in  the 
languages  and  learning  of  antiquity,  she  associates 
what  is  rarely  their  companion,  —  a  comprehensive 
acquaintance  with  the  absolute  sciences  of  modern 
times.  After  spending  her  youth  in  the  acquisition 
of  all  these,  she  conceived  the  noble  design  of  en- 
lightening lay  her  labours  the  views  of  mankind. 
Her  independent  mind,  spurning  obedience  to  the 
self-invested  authority  with  which  ecclesiastics  have 
ever  endeavoured  to  trammel  the  actions  and  even 
the  thoughts  of  men,  and  actuated  in  her  attempts 
by  views  based  on  the  soundest  philosophy,  she  has 
devoted  her  life  to  the  promulgation  of  sound  prin- 
ciples and  just  knowledge.  Eenouncing  the  entice- 
ments of  her  former  sphere  of  life,  she  has  suffered 
an  ample  fortune  to  become  impaired  in  the  dis- 


^Er.  24.]  FANNY   WRIGHT.  71 

charge  of  her  arduous  undertaking.  She  is  now  intent 
on  procuring,  in  the  chief  cities  of  the  country,  the  es- 
tablishment of  "  halls  of  science  "  appropriated  to  the 
instruction  of  all  orders  of  society,  in  every  demonstra- 
tive department  of  human  learning.  According  to  the 
plan  proposed  by  her  in  her  lectures,  these  should  ac- 
commodate, gratuitous  of  cost,  from  three  to  five  thou- 
sand persons  each.  They  should  have  attached  to  them 
lecturers  on  all  the  certain  sciences,  libraries  and  ap- 
paratus, and  extensive  schools  ;  but  in  them  she  would 
have  the  existing  methods  of  instruction  totally  sub- 
verted, and  their  place  supplanted  by  others  far  more 
rational.  That  you  may  know  more  accurately  her 
views,  I  should  inform  you  of  the  purport  and  topics 
of  her  lectures.  Her  first  was  on  free  inquiry,  tending 
to  lull  the  prejudices  of  those  who  recoil  at  the  dis- 
cussion of  subjects  at  all  implicating  religion.  The  two 
subsequent  ones  regarded  knowledge,  its  importance, 
its  true  nature,  and  its  source  primarily  in  the  senses : 
this  had  a  powerful  bearing  on  the  substantiality  of 
religious  belief.  The  fourth  lecture  was  devoted  to  a 
disproof  of  the  justice  of  any  science  of  theology,  and 
contained  some  highly  philosophical  discussion  on  the 
distinction  between  belief  and  knowledge.  In  the  last 
she  treated  of  morals.  The  whole  might  be  regarded 
as  a  happy  extension  and  application  of  the  sound  phi- 
losophy of  Brown  to  the  existing  condition  of  human 
institutions ;  but  there  were  throughout  such  clear- 
ness and  reach  of  thought,  sublimity  of  diction,  and 
often  such  powerful  philippics  against  the  clergy,  that 
every  mind  seemed  spell-bound  throughout  the  term 
of  her  lectures.  To  you  I  need  communicate  but  one 
circumstance  to  impress  a  just  conception  of  the  rare 
acuteness  of  her  mind.  In  an  interview  with  her  which 
I  sought,  after  much  conversation,  —  all  displaying  a 
transcendent  genius, — she  spoke  of  the  true  nature  of 
mathematical  truth,  denied  its  foundation  in  abstrac- 
tions, and  dwelt  on  the  importance  of  communicating 
its  first  principle,  through  perception." 


72  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.         [1829. 


BALTIMORE,  January  6,  1829. 

You  would  be  surprised  at  beholding  the  entire  re- 
verse of  popular  sentiment  as  respects  the  Institute. 
James,  though  he  acquits  himself  in  an  admirable 
manner,  has  but  a  handful  of  two  or  three  dozen  yawn- 
ing and  lounging  listeners.  My  own  classes  are  as 
slender,  and  to  all  appearance  as  little  edified.  Now, 
though  I  am  conscious  my  manner  has  been  unassured 
and  consequently  tame,  yet,  in  thought  and  subject 
it  should  have  been  interesting.  I  certainly  can  avow 
with  no  undue  self-praise  that,  adopting  as  a  guide 
the  notes  which  you  had  left  me,  I  inculcated  in  the 
three  last  lectures  an  enlarged  and  critically  correct 
philosophy.  I  have  said  I  feel  no  disappointment  at 
our  own  inauspicious  circumstances,  but  I  do  feel  pro- 
voked at  the  inattention  and  mismanagement  of  the 
managers.  All  must  be  ascribed  to  them,  and  so  en- 
tirely have  they  weaned  the  popular  regard  that,  under 
present  feeling,  no  efforts  of  the  lecturer  can  avail  to 
regain  it.  They  seem,  however,  conscious  of  their 
dereliction,  and  determined  to  adopt  in  future  more 
strenuous  means  of  promoting  our  interests.  I  am 
therefore  contented  with  the  present,  and  only  solici- 
tous to  accomplish  myself  in  my  profession. 

The  town  has  been  all  on  the  qui  five  for  some  days 
past  in  witnessing  the  exhibition  of  a  newly  invented 
railroad  friction  wagon,  the  contrivance  of  a  Mr. 
Winans,  of  New  Jersey.  The  invention  is  certainly 
valuable ;  in  the  exhibited  model,  a  half-pound  drew, 
on  level  rails,  1,000  pounds ! 

Dearest  brother,  could  I  convey  in  due  expression 
the  dictates  of  my  surcharged  emotions,  you  might 
rightly  appreciate  the  devotedness  of  my  affection.  I 
have  lately,  for  the  first  time,  adequately  conceived  the 
amount  of  gratitude  I  owe  you ;  you  have  been  to  me 
a  moral  master,  a  steadfast  friend  and  an  enlightened 
tutor.  I  owe  to  you  much  of  my  acquisitions,  but  I 
owe  you  more,  —  the  mental  independence  of  erroneous 


MT.  24.]  ON  THE  ART  OF  LECTURING.  73 

views :  you  have  always  inculcated  in  me  the  purest 
virtues  and  the  most  enlightened  philosophy.  But 
for  your  valuable  precepts,  I  should  never  have  en- 
joyed the  proud  gratification  of  my  present  engage- 
ments. Under  your  guidance  I  anticipate  that  Robert 
will  prove  an  accomplished  scholar  and  a  virtuous 
man. 

What  think  you  of  Miss  Wright  and  her  plans  ?  I 
find  it  necessary  to  be  guarded  in  my  expressions,  but, 
thanks  to  our  lamented  Father  and  yourself,  I  enjoy  a 
precious  freedom  from  the  despotic  sway  of  false  and 
perverting  doctrines.  Williamsburg  is,  I  suppose, 
almost  enveloped  in  the  Bishop's  cassock. 

At  this  time  the  young  Williamsburg  professor  was 
apparently  keeping  bachelors'  hall,  with  two  of  his 
colleagues,  in  the  Brafferton,  the  home  of  his  earlier 
years. 

In  spite  of  Henry's  melancholy  mood,  William 
expresses  his  satisfaction  with  the  family  prospects, 
and  adds  to  a  letter  addressed  to  Henry  interesting 
suggestions  on  the  art  of  lecturing :  — 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

WILLIAMSBURG,  January  12,  1829. 

DEAR  HENRY,  —  I  was  pleased  to  find  by  your  last 
letter  that  yourself  and  James  are  progressing  in  your 
professional  duties  in  a  manner  so  satisfactory  to  your- 
self and  your  auditors.  From  the  moment  in  which 
the  prospect  of  your  present  engagement  was  pre- 
sented, I  experienced  delightful  anticipations  of  the 
honour  and  advantage  you  were  about  to  derive  from 
them,  and  felt  an  assured  confidence  of  your  eminent 
success.  Believe  me,  even  were  my  own  circumstances 
less  rich  in  sources  of  satisfaction  than  they  are,  the 
consideration  of  the  happy  success  which  attends  you 
both  would  of  itself  be  sufficient  to  impart  content 


74  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1829. 

and  tranquillity  to  my  mind.  Every  letter  that  I 
direct  to  James  and  yourself  elates  my  thoughts.  I 
feel  that  I  ought  to  be  proud  of  such  brothers,  and  of 
being  one  of  three  who,  though  youthful,  are  already 
so  honourably  distinguished  from  the  general  mass  of 
society. 

The  "  unassured  manner  "  to  which  you  allude,  as 
a  cause  of  occasional  embarrassment,  is  a  difficulty 
with  which  all  who  are  entering  on  a  career  such  as 
yours  are  obliged  to  contend.  Lecturing  is  in  some 
respects  to  be  considered  as  an  art,  and  perhaps  the 
same  remark  may  be  applicable  to  public  speaking 
of  every  description,  even  the  more  eloquent  displays 
of  the  pulpit,  the  senate  and  the  bar.  Much  practice 
is  requisite  to  acquire  such  a  degree  of  readiness  as 
will  be  satisfactory  to  the  speaker,  and  enlivening  to 
his  auditory.  In  my  opinion,  a  very  important  re- 
quisite in  public  speaking  is  zeal,  or  perhaps  I  might 
even  say  enthusiasm.  With  respect  to  my  own  exer- 
tions, I  have  always  observed  that  my  success  in  ex- 
position is  proportioned  to  the  earnestness  with  which 
I  engage  in  it.  Too  minute  an  attention  to  accuracy 
of  phraseology  will  infallibly  induce  hesitation  of 
manner.  It  is  even  better  to  allow  an  inaccuracy  of 
expression  to  pass  uncorrected  than  to  become  in- 
volved in  confusion  by  an  attempt  at  amendment. 
The  importance  of  this  remark  I  have  learned  from 
experience,  and  think  it  cannot  be  too  deeply  im- 
pressed. You  will  find  that  as  you  progress  you  will 
acquire  increased  ease  and  power  of  expression,  and 
you  will  sometimes  be  surprised  at  the  facility  and 
effect  with  which  you  deliver  yourself.  Even  in  the 
midst  of  your  disquisitions,  you  will  on  some  occa- 
sions become  your  own  auditor,  and  will  enjoy  a 
singular  species  of  satisfaction  from  witnessing  your 
own  exertions,  as  if  they  were  those  of  a  distinct 
individual. 

We  are  all  perfectly  well,  and  as  happy  as  we  can 
be  without  the  participation  of  James  and  yourself. 


^T.  24.]  PAPER    ON  "DEW."  75 

Assure  Mr.  Keyser  that  I  do  not  forget  my  duty  to 
him,  and  that  I  intend  writing  to  him  by  the  next 
mail.  He  is  a  gentleman  whose  friendship  I  have 
always  valued  highly.  Of  his  excellent  father1  I 
cannot  think  without  feelings  of  almost  filial  affection. 
You  may  inform  the  old  gentleman  that  I  have  ap- 
plied the  platina  sponge  and  wire  to  several  useful 
and  interesting  purposes  in  my  lectures,  and  not  with- 
out acknowledging  my  obligations  to  a  scientific  friend 
in  Baltimore. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  (1829)  Henry 
became  a  candidate  for  the  chair  of  Chemistry  and 
Natural  Philosophy  in  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle, 
Pa.,  to  which  he  was  formally  elected  in  January, 
1830,  while  in  his  22d  year.  "Whilst  connected 
with  the  college  he  edited  '  The  Messenger  of  Useful 
Knowledge,'  a  monthly  magazine  of  popular  scientific 
character,  and  also  containing  essays  on  educational, 
literary  and  political  subjects,  and  valuable  informa- 
tion from  foreign  journals."  2  To  this  journal,  edited 
by  his  brother,  William  contributed  occasional  essays, 
notably  one  on  "  Dew." 

With  the  arrival  of  the  autumn,  and  the  opening  of 
another  academic  year,  William  returned  as  usual  to 
Williamsburg.  To  his  uncle  James,  in  Philadelphia, 
he  writes  of  the  contrast  between  life  in  a  country 
college  and  that  offered  by  a  large  city :  — 

WILLIAMSBUKG,  November  8,  1829. 

DEAR  UNCLE,  —  To  you,  who  reside  in  a  busy,  pop- 
ulous city  where  every  hour  gives  birth  to  occurrences 
of  interest,  the  details  of  village  transactions  would 

1  This  was  probably  the  china  merchant  (p.  15). 

2  Dickinson  College,  by  Charles  F.  Himes,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  of  Nat- 
ural Science.     Harrisburg,  Pa.,  1879. 


76  WILLIAM  AND  MARY   COLLEGE.        [1829. 

appear  trivial  and  contemptible.  Nor  is  the  news 
which  originates  with  us  calculated  to  excite  the  curi- 
osity of  a  stranger.  Our  town,  like  others  of  the 
same  grade,  is  a  favorite  abode  of  that  daughter  of 
Satan,  Gossipry,  whose  restless  tongue  from  house  to 
house  rings,  untiring,  "  its  eternal  larum,"  and  whose 
wrinkled  visage,  "  spectacle-bestrid,"  is  seen  invading 
the  privacies  of  intercourse,  and  introducing  discord 
and  confusion  into  the  domestic  circle.  Heaven  be 
praised!  she  has  yet  permitted  me  the  undisturbed 
enjoyment  of  my  fireside,  and  I  trust  she  will  thus 
continue  to  observe  her  distance.  I  pity  the  luckless 
wight  upon  whom  she  has  once  fixed  her  "  scrutiny 
severe." 

Our  college  has  opened  with  encouraging  prospects, 
but  at  the  present  stage  of  the  course  no  correct  esti- 
mation of  the  ultimate  amount  of  students  can  be 
made.  Our  number  will  at  least  equal  that  of  the 
former  session  ;  most  probably  it  will  be  greater.  My 
own  classes  are  perhaps  the  largest  in  the  institution ; 
and  that  in  the  department  of  Natural  Philosophy  has 
not  been  equalled  for  the  last  ten  years. 

It  has  too  often  been  the  case  in  the  United  States 
that  medical  schools  have  been  created  largely  for  the 
sake  of  fame  or  financial  gain  to  their  owners.  The 
one  in  Baltimore,  in  which  James  was  a  professor, 
appears  to  have  b^en  an  example  of  this  kind. 


JAMES   TO   WILLIAM. 

BALTIMORE,  November  22,  1829. 

.  .  .  Washington  College  may,  by  a  very  fortuitous 
concourse  of  events,  acquire  a  reputation  which,  in  a 
pecuniary  point  of  view,  shall  be  valuable  to  its  pro- 
fessors, as  an  unworthy  and  undeserving  nephew  ac- 
quires an  unlooked-for  fortune  by  the  death  of  a 
rich  uncle  who  dies  intestate ;  or  it  may  for  a  time 


^T.  25.]  SUCCESS  AS  A    TEACHER.  77 

attract  the  wonder  and  incite  the  curiosity  of  the 
searchers  after  medical  honours  by  the  wildness  and 
attractive  novelty  of  its  emanations,  dignified  theories, 
strange  compounds  of  philosophy  and  poetry,  fact 
and  fiction,  —  things  captivating  to  the  young  medical 
mind,  and  producing  impressions  as  evanescent  and 
illusory  as  is  the  reputation  they  would  seem  to  be- 
stow on  their  author.  You  may  understand  my  allu- 
sions when  I  inform  you  that  Dr.  M.  has  discovered 
that  the  whole  medical  world,  from  the  days  of  old 
Father  Hippocrates  down  to  the  present  time,  has  been 
in  the  midst  of  error  in  accounting  for  the  phenomena 
of  life,  and  in  leaving  out  of  consideration  the  won- 
derful agency  of  the  compound  of  oxygen,  electricity, 
and  caloric,  in  forming  the  nervous  fluid,  while  the 
blood  is  undergoing  its  various  mutations  in  the  ani- 
mal economy.  .  .  . 

William  now  began  to  win  success  as  a  teacher :  — 

ROBERT  (AGE  16)  TO  HENRY. 

WILLIAMSBUKG,  December  6,  1829. 

.  .  .  William  has  his  hands  full,  having  to  lecture 
twice  every  day.  His  class  are  advancing  very  well 
indeed,  and  they  are  all  very  much  pleased.  William 
has  divided  his  classes  into  four  divisions,  which  are 
called  clubs  ;  he  meets  one  of  them  every  night  of  the 
week  except  Saturday  and  Tuesday,  and  the  students 
attend  with  the  greatest  alacrity  possible  :  there  is  not 
the  least  disorder  among  them,  either  at  college  or 
at  the  table ;  they  are  sociable,  but  polite,  towards 
William.  I  put  my  name  down  on  the  matriculation 
book,  and  made  the  55th  student.  I  attend,  as  a  re- 
citing student,  five  classes,  — William's  four  and  Mr. 
Empie's.  William  has  made  a  number  of  fine  models, 
and  is  making  many  more,  to  explain  conic  sections, 
spherics  and  all  solids.  Two  or  three  students  were 
at  first  very  much  opposed  to  mathematics,  but  now 


78  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1829. 

they  have  become  very  much  delighted  with  the  sub- 
ject. The  subject  on  which  William  is  now  engaged 
in  chemistry  is  light ;  he  will  soon  finish  it,  and  then 
go  to  electricity.  He  has  been  so  very  busy  that  he 
has  not  been  able  to  finish  your  piece,  but  is  now 
writing  it.  He  says  you  shall  receive  something  for 
the  "  Messenger  "  every  month.  The  subject  on  which 
he  is  now  writing  is  Meteorology.  If  I  meet  with 
anything  in  my  reading,  I  shall  transcribe  it  and 
forward  it  to  you.  There  will  be  more  studying  this 
year  than  usual,  on  account  of  there  being  monthly 
examinations,  keeping  the  students  always  on  the 
spur. 

The  Faculty,  finding  that  the  students  are  so  well- 
behaved,  permitted  them  to  meet  in  the  society  at 
night.  We  had  last  night  a  question  which  is  as  old 
as  the  society  itself  almost ;  it  was,  "  Should  the 
Sight  of  Suffrage  be  Extended  ?  "  I  opposed  the 
measure  at  present,  but  I  said  that  the  lower  classes 
of  society  be  first  informed,  and  then  they  would 
know  their  rights  better,  and  therefore  maintain  them  ; 
but  under  the  present  ignorance  they  might  make 
bad  use  of  them  were  they  extended. 

Meantime,  William's  interest  in  popular  education 
remained  unabated,  and  his  fertility  in  suggestion  is 
illustrated  by  a  letter  addressed  to  his  brother  Henry 
at  Carlisle,  Pa. :  — 


WILLIAM  TO   HENKT. 

WILLIAMSBUKG,  December  15,  1829. 

I  approve  highly  of  the  plan  of  popular  lectures 
which  you  have  in  contemplation,  and  feel  assured  of 
its  beneficial  results  to  yourself  and  the  society  of 
Carlisle. 

Upon  reflecting  on  the  plan  which  you  have  pro- 
posed to  yourself,  a  variety  of  topics  have  suggested 


JEr.  25.]  POPULAR  LECTURES.  79 

themselves  as  appropriate  to  popular  elucidation.  You 
have  yourself  hinted  at  astronomy  and  meteorology 
as  presenting  extensive  fields  for  the  selection  of  in- 
teresting materials.  .  .  .  An  exposition  on  the  theory 
of  projectiles,  embracing  an  account  of  the  experi- 
ments of  Robinson  and  Hutton  and  Rumford,  and 
simple  illustrations  of  the  resisting  agencies  of  the 
atmosphere  and  other  fluids,  might  prove  highly  inter- 
esting to  a  popular  audience.  My  students  are  always 
delighted  with  the  subject,  and  it  is  so  susceptible  of 
simple  illustrations  that  all  would  find  it  perfectly 
intelligible.  On  this  head  Dr.  Robinson  would  be 
your  best  guide.  As  the  subject  of  internal  improve- 
ments has  excited  much  attention  in  Pennsylvania, 
might  not  an  exhibition  of  the  comparative  advan- 
tages of  railway  and  canal  transportation  be  presented 
to  your  citizens  with  interest  and  advantage?  You 
are  aware  that  various  particulars  of  a  curious  nature 
to  the  uninformed  might  be  introduced  in  connection 
with  this  subject.  Thus  the  equilibrium  of  forces  on 
an  inclined  plane ;  the  application  of  the  laws  of  cen- 
trifugal force  in  the  meanderings  of  the  road ;  the 
property  of  the  curve  of  swiftest  descent ;  the  laws 
of  friction ;  the  modification  of  animal  or  mechanical 
energy  by  the  velocity  of  the  motion,  together  with  a 
general  account  of  the  properties  of  steam  and  the 
structure  of  the  steam  engine,  —  would  supply  curious 
and  interesting  matter  for  several  discourses.  At 
present  I  can  make  no  further  or  detailed  suggestion 
on  these  subjects ;  but  in  my  next,  and  in  succeeding 
letters  I  propose  to  transmit  such  hints  as  I  may  from 
time  to  time  think  likely  to  prove  useful  to  you  in  the 
prosecution  of  this  plan,  and  in  your  general  business 
of  instruction.  Perhaps  in  doing  this  I  shall  con- 
tribute but  little  to  your  aid. 

N.  B.  —  Would  you  believe   that   I  am   reported 

through  town  to  be  engaged  to  Miss  ,  and  not 

without  her  countenance  ?  But  of  this,  Mum !  Heaven 
defend  us  from  gossips ! 


80  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1829. 

Into  the  ear,  and  we  may  truly  add  into  the  heart, 
of  William  his  brothers  still  always  poured  the  story 
of  their  many  troubles  and  their  sorrows,  as  the  letters 
which  follow  abundantly  testify :  — 

JAMES   TO   WILLIAM. 

BALTIMORE,  December  13,  1829. 

DEAR  BROTHER,  ...  It  seems  as  if  I  was  pecul- 
iarly selected  for  the  sport  of  adverse  fortune.  .  .  . 
Our  classes  this  season  were  small ;  the  proceeds  aris- 
ing from  mine,  together  with  some  monies  I  had  re- 
ceived as  registrar  of  the  college  for  matriculation  fees, 
were  laid  aside.  After  having  liquidated  my  debts, 
I  had  about  $100,  which  I  left  hung  up  in  one  of  my 
coats  in  the  room  I  thought  secure.  While  I  was  out 
some  villain  entered  my  room,  stole  the  coat  and  some 
articles  of  clothing  of  much  less  value.  No  search  has 
been  able  to  detect  the  thief,  and  in  all  probability  he 
will  riot  on  the  proceeds  of  my  labour.  Dear  brother, 
I  am  thus  left  almost  penniless,  and,  with  the  exception 
of  two  or  three  tickets  I  expect  to  sell  some  time  in 
the  winter,  know  not  where  to  look  for  money.  .  .  . 

Ducatel,  of  the  Institute,  has  lately  become  very 
sociable,  and  invited  me  to  assist  him  in  one  of  his 
lectures  on  galvanism.  This  I  did  not  refuse,  in  con- 
sideration of  my  respect  for  him,  although  I  enter- 
tain none  for  the  managers  .  .  . 

I  have  received  from  Philadelphia  the  deflagrator, 
and  made  some  of  the  most  brilliant  experiments  with 
it  ever  made  in  Baltimore.  My  poverty  has  compelled 
me  to  solicit  indulgence  of  the  artist  for  some  time, 
and  to  delay  the  other  instrument,  the  calorimeter.  I 
have  invented  a  little  classification  of  the  subjects  of 
my  lectures  for  the  more  easy  comprehension  of  my 
class,  for  which  I  have  received  some  commendation. 
I  will  make  a  fair  copy  and  transmit  it  soon,  if  you 
have  curiosity  to  see  it.  It  may,  perhaps,  furnish  you 
with  a  hint. 


2ET.25.]  PECUNIARY  TROUBLES.  81 


HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

CARLISLE,  January  2, 1830. 

...  I  cease  to  believe  that  I  have  an  identity  entire, 
and  almost  feel  myself  but  the  fourth  member  of  an 
individual.  There  is  a  nature  common  to  us  all,  and 
only  one  happiness  amongst  us  all.  So  little  do  I  feel 
myself  of  separate  existence  from  my  brothers,  that 
often  I  assume  successively  the  place  of  each,  and  in 
his  emotions  contemplate  the  other  three.  It  is  there- 
fore with  the  sensation  of  a  private  sorrow  that  I  sym- 
pathize with  James  in  his  distress,  and  it  is  my  own 
regrets  I  seem  to  be  enlisting  when  I  call  on  yours.  .  .  . 
Pecuniary  means  James  would  have  if  you  should  con- 
cur with  me  in  deeming  him  privileged,  from  his  wants, 
to  employ  a  portion  of  the  funds  of  our  poor,  lamented 
parent.  Five  hundred  dollars  would  make  his  long- 
harassed  heart  sing  in  joy,  and  it  would  afford  him 
means  of  accomplishing  a  sure  success.  After  reliev- 
ing him  from  all  embarrassments,  it  would  contribute 
enough  for  apparatus  and  other  expenses  essential  to 
the  undertaking.  Did  our  own  circumstances  render 
us  less  able  to  lend  future  aid  to  Robert,  I  could  feel 
more  reluctance  to  such  an  appropriation ;  or,  did  I  rely 
less  on  the  noble  and  affectionate  temper  of  that  gen- 
erous boy,  I  should  not  venture  in  such  unreserve  to 
propose  my  hints.  I  think  I  have  fair  reason  to  ex- 
pect my  place  and  salary  to  be  permanent ;  yours  are 
already  so.  With  these  we  can  well  assist  our  brothers 
till  their  equal  merits  procure  them  equal  recompense. 

The  object  of  my  letter  is  that  you  may  think  of 
these  things,  and  to  make  you  the  assurance  of  my 
cooperation  in  whatever  your  judgment  will  decide  in 
aid  of  James's  circumstances.  To  relieve  the  distress 
he  must  suffer  I  conceive  a  duty.  I  am  not  dictating, 
William.  I  know  the  ample  soul  which  you  possess, 
and  if  I  have  a  liberal  feeling  of  my  own,  I  know  how 
much  it  is  due  to  you.  My  only  object  is  to  mention 
my  thoughts,  and  leave  all  with  you. 


82  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.       [1829. 


HENKY  TO   WILLIAM. 

CARLISLE,  December  23,  1829. 

.  .  .  We  see  the  universe  in  parallax,  nor  shall  we 
rectify  our  judgment  of  its  aspect  till  we  perceive 
that  we  are  not  the  centre.  You  spoke  truly  of  the 
great  extent  of  the  topic  that  I  have  chosen.  Science 
is,  indeed,  a  hill,  for  from  it  we  behold  the  widest  of 
all  prospects.  .  .  . 

Perhaps  you  entertain  occasionally  a  wish  to  learn 
something  of  the  tenour  of  my  pursuits  and  the  cir- 
cumstances of  my  situation.  I  have  foreborne  hith- 
erto to  speak  of  the  condition  of  this  college.  Since 
the  session  began,  all  around  me  has  been  suspense ; 
every  effort  to  procure  a  president  has  failed.  .  .  . 
Care  for  my  ultimate  success  in  life  never  influences 
much  my  happiness.  I  have  few  social  delights,  as  I 
am  destitute  of  your  presence  and  feel  an  extreme  re- 
luctance for  society.  But  I  do  not  deem  my  solitude 
a  privation,  except  when  I  think  of  you,  and  I  receive 
more  than  a  compensation  for  the  absence  of  heartless 
acquaintanceships  in  the  exquisite  and  soothing  enjoy- 
ment that  I  can  derive  from  science.  Oh,  how  one 
may  revel  in  pleasures  of  true  knowledge  !  Secluded 
from  men,  we  may  mingle  in  wider  and  closer  fellow- 
ship with  Man ;  we  may  dwell  with  him  through  all 
past  ages,  and  wherever  he  has  made  abode.  And 
thus  lonely,  to  all  but  ourselves,  we  may  wander 
wherever  thought  has  strayed,  amid  all  that  was  or  is 
or  shall  be  in  the  history  and  destiny  of  Nature  and 
the  human  race.  Only  in  the  deepest  privacy  can  we 
visit  the  sealed  solitudes  of  Nature.  Amid  thoughts 
like  these  do  I  find  my  pleasures  in  the  present.  Shall 
I  speak  of  my  ambitions  in  the  future  ?  to  whisper  them 
would  be  too  loud.  Of  late  I  have  minded  not  the 
petty  vicissitudes  around  me,  for  change  is  busier 
within  me ;  in  new  powers  of  vision  I  behold  new 
scenes  and  new  paths  in  the  field  of  enterprise.  Wil- 


JET.  25.]  PRIESTLY   RULE.  83 

liam,  I  have  strange  thoughts  sometimes,  when  I  re- 
flect how  little  good  we  do  our  fellow-beings,  and  how 
much  we  might ;  how  many  truths  important  to  human 
welfare  we  cherish,  yet  tremble  to  avow.  Are  there 
not  frequent  periods  of  self-upbraiding  when  your 
sagacity  discloses  how  profitless  to  real  good  are  all 
the  fine  talents  and  extensive  knowledge  you  possess  ? 
For  myself,  I  feel  an  exalted  incentive  to  pursue 
knowledge.  A  fever  has  been  born  in  my  heart  that 
will  never  leave  it. 

Tell  me  how  you  enjoy  the  present  session,  and  give 
me  a  full  narration  of  all  your  performances  done  or 
fancied.  .  .  . 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

CARLISLE,  February  2,  1830. 

...  I  did  not  discern  till  recently  how  prostrate 
must  be  the  independence  of  all  who  take  their 
hire  of  a  nefarious  priesthood.  But  now  I  find  full 
amply  that  the  tenure  of  my  station  must  be  a  deep 
hypocrisy,  and  an  oppression  and  ignominious  ser- 
vitude. Some  evenings  since,  I  attended  a  pleasant 
party  at  which  the  choicest  society  of  the  place  was 
present.  To  gratify  the  company  the  host  produced 
his  violin,  and  all  united  in  a  dance.  Now  I,  poor 
devil,  knew  no  reason  why  I  should  not  with  the 
rest  taste  the  gaiety  of  the  evening,  nor  could  I  ap- 
prehend that  any  should  scruple  at  my  conduct.  In 
deference,  therefore,  to  the  mistress  of  the  house,  I 
danced,  and  saw  in  the  same  cotillon  two  of  the  trus- 
tees of  our  college.  But,  behold,  in  due  time  I  was 
notified  through  a  private  interview  with  one  of  our 
priestly  rulers  how  greatly  I  had  acted  amiss,  and  was 
made  abruptly  to  know  how  little  my  greatest  services 
might  avail  me  to  retain  my  place  should  I  disavow 
the  requisitions  of  their  church,  or  fail  in  my  conduct 
and  expressions  to  cooperate  in  rendering  the  col- 
lege a  school  of  religious  discipline.  Now  this  was 
gross  tyranny  and  insult,  and  my  soul  burned  to  defy 


84  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.       [1830. 

it.  Then  it  was  that  I  felt  the  lofty  spirit  of  my 
father  in  me,  and  I  answered  that,  if  such  must  be  the 
fetters  I  must  wear,  then  Dickinson  and  I  must  part ; 
but  I  afterwards  softened  my  expressions  and  all  was 
appeased  between  us.  Since,  I  have  held  myself  mute 
and  continue  cautious.  I  think  I  have  fair  expecta- 
tions of  reelection  in  the  spring,  but  certainly  I  should 
forfeit  all  chance  of  such  an  issue  were  I  not  now  to 
bow  low  to  dictation. 

I  cannot  rightly  tell  you  how  much  and  how  anx- 
iously I  have  lately  pondered  my  future  conduct  in 
life.  My  mind  seems  destined  to  struggle  along  be- 
tween the  decisions  of  policy  and  the  ardent  determi- 
nation of  a  bolder  virtue.  .  .  . 

There  is  in  recent  years  much  criticism  of  the 
Congress  assembled  at  Washington.  It  would  seem 
that  the  doings  of  this  body  in  1830  did  not  inspire 
universal  respect,  and  those  who  insist  that  the  former 
times  were  better  than  these  may  be  interested  to 
peruse  the  following  estimate  of  Congress  by  a  young 
contemporary  professor :  — 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

WILLIAMSBUKG,  February  13,  1830. 

.  .  .  Who  that  is  inspired  with  just  ideas  of  the 
true  interests  of  society  can  witness  the  proceedings 
of  our  Congress,  the  assembled  learning  and  talent 
of  our  country,  without  disgust  and  shame?  How 
trivial,  and  how  foreign  from  the  happiness  of  the 
people  for  whom  they  act,  are  the  subjects  they  discuss 
and  the  measures  they  decide!  and  how  false,  and 
often  vicious,  the  principles  by  which  they  affect  to 
regulate  and  improve  the  condition  of  society !  For- 
getful of  the  moral  nature  of  man,  they  seem  to  regard 
him  only  in  a  legal  point  of  view,  as  the  proprietor 
of  land  and  other  possessions.  They  legislate  as  if 


-ST.  25.]  NITROUS  OXIDE.  85 

national  and  individual  happiness  were  synonymous 
with  extensive  property,  and  dependent  upon  the 
arithmetic  of  ledger  calculations.  Their  hall  of  coun- 
cil is  the  very  headquarters  of  selfishness.  There  the 
agents  of  the  several  States  assemble,  not  to  digest 
schemes  of  diffusive  moral  benefit,  but  by  argument 
or  intrigue  to  drive  interested  bargains  for  their  con- 
stituents, and  all  their  proceedings  are  little  better 
than  a  miserable  scramble  after  wealth  and  power. 
Witness  these  engrossing  questions,  —  the  Tariff  and 
the  Public  Lands,  —  in  which  each  section  of  our 
country  is  agitated  by  hopes  and  fears  concerning  its 
own  prosperity,  and  which,  however  they  may  be  de- 
cided, can  influence  their  real  happiness  only  in  a  very 
slight  degree.  .  .  . 

WILLIAMSBUHG,  February  26,  1830. 

.  .  .  This  morning  I  exhibited  nitrous  oxide  to  sev- 
eral of  my  students,  and  in  some  instances  with  the 
most  powerful  effects.  I  have  myself  inhaled  it  twice 
in  private,  and  found  its  operation  upon  my  system  to 
be  somewhat  peculiar.  It  imparts  to  me  a  sense  of 
omnipresence.  I  lose  all  feeling  of  relation  to  the 
earth  or  sublunary  things,  and  seem  winged  away 
through  boundless  space,  the  only  sentient  being  in 
existence.  My  emotions  are  pleasurable,  but  their 
characteristics  are  vastness,  grandeur,  sublimity  and 
solitude.  The  influence  of  the  aerial  draught  con- 
tinues for  a  long  time,  and  as  it  subsides  I  become 
gradually  sensible  of  my  presence  upon  the  ground, 
and  look  around  me  with  the  haughty  disdain  and 
towering  importance  of  the  Great  Mogul. 

Throughout  the  correspondence  thus  far,  William 
appears  to  have  refrained  from  offering  unsolicited 
advice  to  his  brothers,  except  on  the  all-important 
subject  of  their  health.  But  now  he  writes  more 
freely. 


WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.       [1830. 


WILLIAM   TO   JAMES. 

WILUAMSBTJKG,  March  27,  1830. 

Be  not  discouraged  by  the  present  state  of  circum- 
stances. The  literary  institutions  of  our  country  are 
numerous,  and  the  demand  for  men  qualified  as  you 
are  is  daily  augmenting.  A  year,  perhaps  less  time, 
may  open  you  a  way  to  distinction  and  emolument. 
Be  on  the  alert,  be  vigilant  in  watching  for  the  propi- 
tious opportunity,  and  with  unrelaxing  perseverance 
labour  in  improving  the  eminent  qualifications  you 
already  possess.  In  the  season  of  disengagement 
from  the  duties  of  instruction,  do  not  abandon  your 
studious  pursuits.  Do  not  permit  your  armour  to  rust, 
but  keep  it  well  burnished  by  continual  use,  and  be 
ever  ready  for  the  field.  Above  all,  my  dear  brother, 
be  not  too  diffident  of  yourself  when  a  favourable 
occasion  is  presented  for  a  display  of  your  claims  to 
the  attention  of  the  community.  This  is  not  a  coun- 
try in  which  retiring  merit  is  ever  likely  to  be  re- 
warded. There  are  no  kind  patrons  of  genius,  ever 
ready  to  assist  its  efforts,  ever  active  in  drawing  it 
forth  from  the  haunts  of  obscurity  and  want.  Here 
talents  cannot  succeed  without  enterprise,  and  every 
man  is  expected  "  to  achieve  his  own  greatness."  The 
community  will  only  give  you  credit  for  as  much  as 
you  display,  and  they  will  not  seek  to  educe  your  hid- 
den resources.  You  must  present  yourself  before 
them  boldly,  frequently  and  impressively ;  you  must 
almost  obtrude  yourself  upon  their  notice :  by  such 
means  their  good  opinion  must  unfailingly  be  secured, 
and,  once  obtained,  you  may  bid  defiance  to  disap- 
pointment. .  .  . 

In  the  summer  of  1830  William  with  Eobert  visited 
Henry  in  Carlisle.  The  following  letter  of  William 
to  his  uncle  refers  to  his  friendship  with  the  Empie 
family :  — 


JET.  25.]  JAMES'S  MARRIAGE.  87 


WILLIAM  TO   HIS   UNCLE   JAMES. 

CARLISLE,  August  14, 1830. 

DEAR  UNCLE,  —  Mr.  Empie  and  his  most  excellent 
lady  have  ever  been  among  my  most  cherished  friends 
in  Virginia.  In  difficulty  or  in  sickness  I  have  always 
experienced  their  heartfelt  sympathy  and  their  ten- 
derly affectionate  attentions.  They  are  to  me  indeed 
as  brother  and  sister,  and  the  apprehension  of  their 
serious  indisposition,  of  which  I  have  received  some 
accounts,  excites  my  most  painful  solicitude.  Should 
you  ever  become  acquainted  with  these  valued  friends, 
you  will  sympathize  in  my  affection  for  them. 

In  company  with  Henry  and  sometimes  Robert,  I 
make  frequent  excursions  to  the  neighbouring  moun- 
tains and  valleys,  and  derive  from  them  improvement 
both  in  health  and  information.  We  have  already 
explored,  both  botanically  and  geologically,  a  consider- 
able region  of  the  surrounding  country,  and  we  still 
continue  these  enlivening  expeditions.  .  .  .  Amid  the 
various  jealousies  and  hostilities  which  have  for  many 
years  prevailed  in  town  and  college,  and  which  still 
continue  to  disturb  the  peace  of  both,  I  have  been 
pleased  to  find  that  Henry's  prudence  and  manly  open- 
ness have  conciliated  the  esteem  of  all,  and  that  he  is 
generally  respected  for  his  abilities  and  science.  .  .  . 

Another  academic  year  opened  in  October,  1830, 
and  found  William  at  his  post  in  the  ancient  college. 
Troubles  were  brewing,  however,  for  Henry  at  Car- 
lisle. James  had  been  violently  ill  during  August,  and 
in  the  autumn,  after  his  recovery,  had  terminated  a 
long-standing  engagement  by  marriage  to  Miss  Rachel 
Smith,  of  Harford  County,  Maryland.  To  eke  out 
his  income  he  soon  after  entered  with  a  partner  into 
the  business  of  an  apothecary  in  Baltimore ;  but  this 
essay  was  doomed  to  failure. 


88  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1830. 

Meantime  the  professorship  of  mathematics  in  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  became  vacant,  and  the  classes  were 
carried  on  temporarily  by  William,  as  the  following 
shows,  with  acceptance :  — ' 


WILLIAM   TO   HIS   UNCLE. 

WILLIAM  AND  MARY,  November  11,  1830. 
The  students  of  my  classes,  unknown  to  me,  met 
this  morning  and  entered  into  resolution  to  solicit  the 
Visitors  to  make  no  appointment  now,  but  to  continue 
me  in  the  mathematical  chair,  at  least  to  the  end  of 
the  course.  .  .  . 

As  was  anticipated,  the  Visitors  met  but  made  no 
new  appointment  and  the  classes  continued  under 
William's  direction.  Henry,  meantime,  found  the 
position  at  Carlisle  less  and  less  to  his  liking,  and 
finally  in  the  spring  of  1831  resigned.  James  con- 
tinued in  Baltimore,  in  constant  financial  difficulties, 
but  towards  the  summer  saw  a  ray  of  hope,  having 
secured  a  lectureship  for  the  next  year  in  the  Mary- 
land Institute. 

In  these  troubles  of  the  brothers  William  gave 
them  unfailing  sympathy.  To  Robert  he  gave  a  pater- 
nal protection,  to  James  constant  and  substantial 
aid,  and  to  Henry  encouragement  and  counsel. 

During  the  summer  of  1841  William,  Henry  and 
Robert  went  North,  in  the  hope  of  securing  for  Rob- 
ert work  under  Captain  McNeil  who  was  engaged  in 
locating  some  of  the  new  lines  of  railway  then  pro- 
jected in  New  England.  Robert  soon  found  employ- 
ment under  Captain  McNeil  and  his  associates  in- 
cluded some  who  afterwards  achieved  eminence  in 
engineering,  notably  Mr.  E.  S.  Chesbrough. 


^ET.  26.]  ENGINEERING.  89 

As  he  was  now  out  of  employment,  Henry  appears 
to  have  determined  to  join  one  of  the  numerous  sur- 
veying parties  then  in  the  field,  and  on  September  10 
he  proceeded  from  New  York  to  Providence,  R.  I., 
by  steamboat,  and  thence  by  stage-coach  to  Boston. 
Robert  accompanied  him,  and  the  experiences  of  the 
young  men  on  arriving  in  New  England  were  inter- 
esting. 

HENRY  TO   WILLIAM. 

BOSTON,  September  25,  1831. 

.  .  .  For  the  last  week  we  have  been  entirely  in 
the  country,  prosecuting  our  surveys  with  great  activ- 
ity, and  it  was  necessary  to  ride  seventeen  miles  to  get 
here.  During  our  excursion  so  far,  we  have  met  with 
nothing  to  annoy  us ;  the  weather  has  been  uniformly 
serene  and  soft,  and  the  country  we  have  traversed  as 
beautiful  as  taste  could  wish.  Our  operations  being 
at  present  directed  towards  Taunton,  we  have  pursued 
a  line  nearly  due  south ;  this  at  first  led  us,  on  quit- 
ting Boston,  close  upon  the  heights  of  Dorchester,  the 
site,  you  are  aware,  of  the  American  redoubts  during 
the  Revolution ;  and  in  all  that  vicinity  we  enjoyed 
a  scenery  varied  and  pleasing  beyond  description. 
Passing  on,  we  reached  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Hills, 
directly  beneath  the  magnificent  quarries  of  the  cele- 
brated Quincy  granite,  and,  deviating  slightly  to  the 
east,  we  avoided  the  rocky  barrier  in  our  path  by 
penetrating  the  range  through  a  deep  valley.  We 
witnessed,  of  course,  all  the  interesting  works  con- 
nected with  the  quarries,  and  beheld  from  their  sum- 
mits by  far  the  noblest  scenery  in  the  neighbourhood ; 
in  the  distance,  a  grand  and  lovely  view  of  the  ocean 
and  its  islands,  and  beneath  us  the  fair-built  city  and 
the  rich  meadows,  fields  and  woods  of  its  vicinity. 

During  our  stay  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Quincy,  we 
made  that  pretty  village  for  the  time  our  home,  but 
for  the  last  three  days  we  have  tarried  for  lodgings 


90  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.       [1831. 

and  meals  in  the  interesting  village  of  West  Ran- 
dolph. Our  practice  is  to  halt  at  the  nearest  town, 
or,  if  one  be  not  accessible,  at  the  nearest  country  inn, 
when  we  approach  it  within  about  three  miles  ;  there 
we  stop  generally  about  two  or  three  nights,  until  our 
operations  carry  us  too  far  beyond  it.  Taking  break- 
fast before  commencing  the  day's  business,  thrusting 
a  few  biscuits  into  our  pockets,  we  labour  on  without 
intermission  until  the  approach  of  sunset ;  then,  con- 
fiding our  instruments  to  our  labourers,  we  seek  our 
place  of  rest  for  the  night,  enjoying  our  suppers  with 
no  little  relish,  and  spending  the  evening  with  books, 
or  amusing  conversation  with  the  people  about  us.  ... 
Robert  and  I  amuse  ourselves  sometimes  in  practising 
topography,  an  art  of  the  first  importance ;  after  sketch- 
ing the  local  features  of  the  ground  around  us,  I  often 
make  some  observations  on  its  natural  history,  espe- 
cially the  nature  of  the  trees  and  rocks.  Griswold  has 
mentioned  my  habit  to  the  Captain,  reporting,  I  pre- 
sume, something  in  praise  of  my  geological  informa- 
tion: the  Captain  requested  me  to-day  to  record  a 
series  of  geological  observations  throughout  our  route, 
stating  that  such  things  will  be  beneficial  to  my  pros- 
pects. So  much  for  a  little  science ! ! !  I  should  not 
omit  to  state  that,  though  volunteers,  we  receive  the 
full  recompense  usually  given  persons  who  do  our 
duty,  each  of  us  getting  now  $1.25  a  day.  This  of 
course  will  not  continue  after  we  quit  the  field,  but  for 
the  present  it  more  than  defrays  our  expenditures. 

KOBEET  (AGE  17)  TO  HIS  UNCLE  JAMES. 

SEEKONK,  MASS.,  Friday,  September  28,  1831. 

.  .  .  We  have  concluded  most  of  the  important 
surveys  of  the  season.  We  have  been  from  Boston  to 
Taunton,  and  from  Boston  to  Providence,  and  there 
yet  remain  some  short  distances  to  be  surveyed  before 
we  shall  have  finished  all  our  outside  work.  .  .  . 

When  in  Virginia,  I  have  often  heard  the  activity 


Sis.  27.]  NEW  ENGLAND.  91 

and  the  stirring  enterprise  of  the  North  put  in  con- 
trast with  the  languor  and  listlessness  of  the  South, 
and  I  had  been  led  to  form  a  different  opinion  of  the 
New  Englanders  from  that  which  my  past  experience 
would  justify,  though  they  are  indeed  an  active  and 
stirring  people ;  yet  their  enterprise  does  not  seem  to 
be  at  all  enlarged,  but  confined  to  each  one's  own  petty 
interests,  entirely  disregarding  those  of  another.  One 
thing  is  the  fact,  however,  that  I  have  never  seen  any 
part  of  the  country  so  well  calculated  to  leave  a  good 
impression  upon  the  mind  of  the  traveller  as  the  en- 
virons of  Boston.  Everything  has  the  appearance  of 
utmost  neatness  and  care ;  the  houses  are  all  built  in 
good  taste,  with  beautiful  lawns  of  grass  before  the 
doors,  all  bearing  the  appearance  of  greatest  comfort : 
here,  with  a  million  or  so  of  income,  I  might  live  the 
life  of  a  happy  bachelor.  .  .  . 

The  winter  of  1831-32  was  passed  by  William  in 
Williamsburg,  and  by  Henry  and  Robert  in  New 
York.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  in- 
fluence which  Fanny  Wright  and  her  doctrines  had 
produced  upon  Henry.  During  this  winter  he  saw 
much  of  Robert  Dale  Owen  and  others  belonging  to 
the  same  movement,  and  became  so  much  interested 
in  their  plans  that,  in  spite  of  his  uncle's  disapproval 
and  William's  reluctant  assent,  he  determined  to  cast 
in  his  lot  for  a  time  with  the  reformers  and,  in  fur- 
therance of  this  purpose,  decided  to  travel  with  Owen 
to  London. 


HENRY   TO   HIS   UNCLE   JAMES. 

NEW  YORK,  May  12,  1832. 

.  .  .  My  own  feelings  assure  me  that  I,  not  for  one 
moment,  have  been  careless  as  to  how  you  and  William 
would  look  upon  my  schemes.  These  schemes  I  have 


92  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1832. 

long  had  in  contemplation  ;  but  in  coming  to  my  deci- 
sions about  the  career  I  was  selecting,  I  fully  appreci- 
ated the  distress  which  I  saw  I  would  occasion  you. 
My  decision  was  by  no  means  rashly  made  ;  I  may  say 
that  for  the  last  two  years  I  have  almost  incessantly 
deliberated  upon  the  matter.  You  have  frequently 
told  me  that  you  did  not  think  any  one  authorized 
to  run  counter  to  public  opinion  ;  so  far  I  saw  that  you 
must  censure  the  course  I  was  tracing  out  for  myself, 
and  so  far  I  felt  a  disposition  to  alter  my  views.  But 
conviction,  a  sense  of  conscientious  duty,  has  been  too 
strong.  This  William  is  aware  of,  for  my  trip  last 
winter  to  Virginia  was  for  the  express  purpose  of  giv- 
ing him  my  intention  and  hearing  his  sentiments.  I 
cannot  think,  therefore,  that  I  have  proceeded  rashly. 
I  have  well  studied  the  state  of  opinion  among  that 
part  of  society  who  favour  my  plans,  and  feel  convinced 
that  they  will  not  fail.  I  cannot  see  that  I  have  much 
to  fear  from  popular  odium,  even  among  those  who  will 
object  to  my  use  of  the  Sunday.  My  main  object  is 
to  be  useful.  Sunday  is  the  useful  day  for  the  purpose, 
therefore  I  select  it.  Again,  were  my  schemes  to  fail 
and  all  the  world  to  scout,  my  true  happiness  would 
still  be  greater  than  any  I  could  have  by  taking  a 
course  contrary  to  my  convictions.1  .  .  . 

About  Europe,  —  should  William  have  his  views 
altered  by  what  you  wrote  him,  and  now  disapprove 
of  my  going,  I  do  not  go.  Should  he  still  approve,  I 
must  obey  my  conviction  of  its  propriety,  and  adhere 
to  my  first  intention.  I  shall  not  take  his  generosity 
unless  I  have  his  judgment. 

Henry  finally  sailed  from  New  York,  on  the  ship 
"  Washington,"  on  May  19.  Kobert,  when  the  spring 
opened,  returned  to  his  surveying  near  Boston.  This 
was  the  year  of  the  great  invasion  of  cholera  and,  as 

1  The  use  of  Sunday  here  referred  to  was  for  lectures  to  working- 
men  which  were  later  given  in  London. 


2ET.  27.]  A   SOUTHERN  TRIP.  93 

the  time  for  the  annual  migration  from  Williamsburg 
approached,  William  wrote  to  his  uncle  :  — 


WILLIAM   TO   HIS   UNCLE   JAMES. 

WILLIAM  AND  MAKT,  June  21, 1832. 

DEAR  UNCLE,  .  .  .  You  will  be  surprised  that  I 
am  preparing  for  a  journey  South  before  I  can  join  you. 
Mrs.  Em  pie  and  family  have  determined  to  pass  the 
summer  among  her  relatives  at  the  seaside,  near  Wil- 
mington, N.  C.  The  health  of  Mr.  Empie  is  such  that 
he  will  be  compelled  to  spend  the  season  in  travelling 
and  at  the  Virginia  Springs.  He  cannot  then  ac- 
company his  lady  and  her  children  to  their  friends.  A 
pressing  invitation  from  several  persons  in  Wilmington 
has  been  given  me  to  attend  Mrs.  E.  thither  and  re- 
main there  during  the  summer.  The  deep  obligations 
of  kindness  and  maternal  affection  which  I  owe  to  this 
inestimable  lady  would  alone  require  as  a  duty  that 
I  should  do  everything  to  contribute  to  her  safety  and 
convenience.  But,  moreover,  she  is  exceedingly  infirm 
and  delicate ;  her  family  is  large,  and  consists  mostly 
of  very  young  children ;  and  the  journey  is  long  and 
somewhat  fatiguing.  How,  then,  could  I  in  friend- 
ship withhold  my  assistance  from  her  in  these  cir- 
cumstances ? 

.  .  .  Some  anxiety  has  been  occasioned  in  my  mind 
in  reference  to  Robert's  safety  by  recent  accounts  of 
the  cholera.  Should  it  extend  to  Boston,  would  he  not 
be  in  greater  danger  than  in  Philadelphia  ?  Oh,  what 
anguish  should  I  suffer  if  I  had  reason  to  believe  that 
it  prevailed  in  his  vicinity !  My  dear  uncle,  if  you 
think  there  is  any  likelihood  of  his  being  placed  in 
the  way  of  this  terrible  scourge,  please  write  to  him 
immediately  and  request  him  to  return  and  await  me 
in  Philadelphia.  .  .  . 

In  September  William  informs  his  uncle  that 
he  had  lingered  near  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  partly  on 


94  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.          [1832. 

account  of  the  cholera,  "  the  terrible  pestilence  by 
which  even  your  healthful  and  cleanly  city  has  been 
assailed."  Here,  also,  he  almost  lost  his  life. 


WILLIAM  TO   HIS   UNCLE   JAMES. 

WRIGHTSVILLE,  NORTH  CAROLINA,  September  13,  1832. 

...  I  have  already  described  the  village  in  which 
I  have  spent  most  of  my  time.  The  Atlantic  Ocean 
is  not  much  more  than  a  mile  in  a  direct  line  from 
our  house.  The  intervening  space  is  occupied  by  rich 
meadows  of  sea  grass,  with  creeks  meandering  through 
them,  and  communicating  with  the  sea  by  inlets  made 
by  breaks  in  the  low  sandbanks  which  form  the  shore 
of  the  ocean.  The  roar  of  the  breakers,  which  are 
very  heavy  on  this  coast,  is  now  sounding  with  a  noise 
like  that  of  distant  thunder  in  my  ears. 

About  ten  days  since,  I  went  with  a  party  of  gen- 
tlemen on  a  sailing  excursion  in  a  small  boat,  such  as 
is  commonly  used  in  the  waters  of  the  Sound.  We 
passed  before  a  brisk  wind  through  the  nearest  inlet, 
and  sailed  for  some  time  on  the  bosom  of  the  ocean ; 
we  then  proceeded  to  return  to  the  Sound  by  another 
inlet  lower  down  on  the  coast.  Our  pilot,  however, 
steered  us  into  the  very  midst  of  the  breakers.  In  an 
instant,  surrounded  by  the  raging  waters  piled  like 
mountains  on  every  side,  our  boat  was  turned  over, 
and  ourselves  precipitated  into  the  boiling  and  foam- 
ing waters.  We  clung  with  difficulty  to  the  boat, 
while  the  irresistible  tide  carried  us  out  farther  and 
farther  into  the  ocean.  For  half  an  hour  we  remained 
in  this  situation,  until  I,  who  had  been  seized  with 
cramp,  had  given  myself  up  as  lost,  and  all  were 
ready  to  sink  in  despair.  Providentially  some  fisher- 
men had  witnessed  our  disaster,  and,  coming  to  our 
assistance  in  a  strong  and  well-manned  boat,  rescued 
us  from  a  terrible  fate.  I  lost  my  watch,  shoes  and 
waistcoat.  .  .  . 


MT.  27.]     TULLY  AND  HIS  MICROSCOPES.  95 

Letters  in  due  season  arrived  from  Henry,  the  ab- 
sent brother.  These  reported  that  he  would  soon 
return,  and  he  in  fact  actually  embarked  from  London 
in  the  autumn.  But  a  series  of  westerly  gales  arising, 
the  ship  was  unable  to  proceed  beyond  the  English 
coast,  and  after  struggling  for  some  weeks  with  the 
elements,  during  which  time  the  vessel  was  driven 
to  and  fro,  sometimes  advancing  and  sometimes  re- 
treating and  again  lying  at  anchor,  all  having  been 
long  sick  and  the  captain  of  the  vessel  having  had  his 
arm  broken,  Henry  and  his  friends  decided  that  the 
best  thing  to  do  was  to  give  up  the  attempt  and  return 
to  London  for  the  winter.  His  letters  contain  much 
of  interest,  especially  many  valuable  glimpses  of  con- 
temporary men  of  science  in  England;  and  as  the 
young  professor  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  American 
scientific  men  to  report  his  observations,  somewhat 
copious  extracts  are  given :  — 

HENRY  TO  HIS  UNCLE   JAMES   AND   HIS   BROTHER   WTLLIAM. 

LONDON,  November  14,  1832. 

...  I  am  very  comfortable  at  Mr.  Owen's,  4  Cres- 
cent Place,  Burton  Crescent,  London. 

...  A  few  evenings  ago  I  met  Tully,  the  great 
optician.1  His  microscopes  are  reported  the  finest 
ever  invented,  and  certainly,  from  what  I  saw  of  one 
which  he  made  for  our  host,  I  can  well  believe  it. 
Not  the  wildest  accounts  which  we  have  ever  heard  of 
the  microscope  equal  what  I  witnessed.  During  the 
evening  we  made  the  very  interesting  discovery  of  a 
valve  in  the  pulsating  system  of  a  minute  object  like 
a  cabbage-louse.  .  .  .  Going  home  with  Mr.  Tully, 
he  mentioned  to  me  that  the  attempts  of  Mr.  Faraday 
and  the  Royal  Society's  Committee  to  procure  optical 
glasses  have  not  succeeded.  He  says  by  using  a  borate 
of  lead  their  product  is  too  dense  to  sort  with  crown 

1  One  of  the  inventors  of  the  achromatic  microscope  objective. 


96  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.          [1832. 

and  plate  glass  in  achromatic  lenses,  besides  having 
other  defects.  Tully  has  contrived  a  little  instrument 
by  which  he  rules  with  a  diamond  12,000  parallel 
equidistant  lines  in  one  inch  on  glass,  giving  the  most 
perfect  micrometer  ever  made,  and  enabling  one  ac- 
tually to  measure  thus  the  minutest  infusoria.  It  was 
truly  curious  to  witness,  on  the  back  of  the  plant-louse 
I  before  spoke  of,  a  number  of  bell  polypi  swinging 
to  and  fro  on  slender  stems,  erecting  themselves, 
expanding  their  fibrillse,  and  catching  the  minutest 
monads.  .  .  .  Turner  l  is  in  every  sense  a  gentleman. 
I  am  present  at  his  lectures  almost  daily.  He  experi- 
ments very  much  and  in  beautiful  style,  most  of  his 
instruments  being  on  a  large  scale.  To-day,  treating 
of  hygrometers,  after  showing  us  all  the  varieties,  he 
presented  one  of  his  own,  the  most  simple  and  perfect 
of  all.  It  is  merely  a  cup  of  silver  two  inches  by  half 
an  inch,  gilt  and  burnished  outside.  A  few  grains  of 
freezing  mixture,  half  nitre  and  half  sal-ammoniac, 
are  dissolved  and  stirred  with  a  small  thermometer  on 
which  you  mark  the  dew  points.  Some  days  since,  he 
brought  before  us  a  pyrometer  of  Darnell's  which  I 
had  not  known.  It  is  a  bar  of  plumbago  bored  to 
receive  a  rod  of  malleable  iron,  and  a  shorter  rod  of 
clay  to  act  as  index.  The  plumbago  prevents  oxida- 
tion. .  .  .  This  evening  I  go  by  invitation  to  a  soiree 
of  the  professors  and  friends  of  the  University. 

Faraday  is  at  present  on  electricity  at  the  Royal 
Institution.  Yesterday  he  was  melting  the  metals, 
etc.,  by  the  most  powerful  battery  I  ever  beheld,  with 
two  enormous  machines  in  full  action.  Three  days 
ago  it  was  electrical  light,  and  a  more  successful  and 
splendid  series  of  experiments  could  not  be  performed 
by  any  one.  Faraday's  style  of  lecturing  and  experi- 
menting reminds  one  of  Paganini's  playing :  so  easy, 
so  adroit,  so  much  execution.  When  I  listen  to  his 
fluent  and  eloquent  delivery,  my  thoughts  wander 
home  to  you,  William ;  and  with  tenderness  and  with 

1  Edward  Turner,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  University  College, 
London. 


Mi.  28.]          ENGLISH  MEN  OF  SCIENCE.  97 

a  sweet  pride  I  think  of  the  greater  powers  possessed 
by  my  own  dear  brother.  Yes,  William,  I  have  al- 
ready heard  several  lecturers,  reputed  among  the  best 
in  Europe,  and  I  will  vouch  for  it  that  with  equal 
aids  you  shall  outshine  them  all. 

You  are  aware  of  the  discoveries  of  Ritchie  in 
electro-magnetism ;  he  is  Professor  of  Natural  Phi- 
losophy in  the  London  University.  He  is  conducting 
two  courses,  —  one  profound,  the  other  more  exclu- 
sively experimental.  I  have  an  invitation  to  attend 
either.  He  is  a  Scotchman,  deeply  scientific,  and  a 
clear  lecturer ;  but,  strange  to  say,  while  Turner  has 
in  chemistry  nearly  three  hundred  students,  Ritchie 
has  barely  twenty  or  twenty-five,  —  not  more,  I  hope, 
than  your  own  class.  It  should  cheer  you  when  you 
learn  that  the  singular  distaste  of  the  age  for  natural 
philosophy  is  not  restricted  to  Virginia.  Biot,  in 
Paris,  had  often  not  above  half  a  dozen.  .  .  . 

I  was  introduced  some  days  ago  to  Loudon,  the 
botanist  and  gardener.  He  is  a  Scotchman,  has  lost 
his  right  arm,  and  is  a  truly  amiable  man.  He  seemed 
extremely  rejoiced  to  meet  an  American.  ...  I  may 
mention  that  the  news  reached  this  city  a  few  days 
ago  of  the  death  of  Professor  Leslie,  of  Edinburgh, 
who  breakfasted  with  us  at  Mr.  Owen's  in  the  sum- 
mer. The  same  day  he  was  with  us  he  went  to  Court 
and  was  knighted.  The  honours  accorded  by  the  phi- 
losophic world  will  long  outshine  the  already  withered 
laurels  of  the  King.  With  many  here,  there  is  a  feel- 
ing that  philosophers  ought  not  to  wear  the  empty 
decorations  of  the  Court.  Dalton,1  like  a  man  of 
sense,  lately  refused  a  knighthood,  though  warmly 
proffered.  .  .  . 

HENRY   TO   HIS   UNCLE   JAMES. 

LONDON,  December  14, 1832.    ' 

.  .  .  Dr.  Turner,  last  night,  introduced  me  to  the 
Geological  Society  of  which  he  is  secretary.     I  shall 
have  fine  chances  for  making  myself  a  geologist  by 
1  John  Dalton,  the  famous  chemist  and  natural  philosopher. 


98  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.       [1832. 

the  free  access  I  may  have  to  the  Society's  superb 
museum.  I  was  introduced  personally  to  several  of 
the  members,  De  la  Beche,  Lyell,  Babbage  and 
others.  .  .  . 

One  of  the  papers  read  [at  the  Koyal  Society] 
will  prove  a  highly  important  one  to  men  of  science, 
as  it  contains  some  fundamental  discoveries  in  elec- 
tro-magnetism. It  is  by  Ritchie,  of  London  Univer- 
sity, whom  I  very  well  know,  and  with  whom  I  had 
last  night  some  very  instructive  chat.  As  you  are  a 
reader  of  the  scientific  journals,  you  may  have  seen 
something  of  Mr.  Faraday's  very  brilliant  discoveries 
concerning  the  production  of  electricity  from  magnet- 
ism, which  created  much  noise  here  last  winter.  This 
subject  Ritchie  is  now  exploring  with  great  success, 
and  has  already  in  this  paper  reduced  all  Faraday's 
researches  to  one  simple  universal  law.  I  attend  his 
lectures  habitually,  and  esteem  him  one  of  the  first 
natural  philosophers  of  the  age.  I  go  likewise  to  the 
Royal  Institution,  where  Brande  and  Faraday  deliver 
perhaps  the  most  perfect  course  of  chemistry  anywhere 
given.  .  .  . 

My  chances  here  are  now  truly  golden  ones,  for  I 
am  on  such  easy  terms  with  several  men  of  science 
that  they  place  every  opportunity  open  to  me ;  and  it 
has  become  my  consuming  ambition  to  retrieve  my 
mistakes  by  devoting  myself  to  those  studies  which 
will  please  my  friends  and  procure  me  an  honourable 
name.  It  annoys  me,  however,  when  I  think  how 
soon  I  must  leave  these  fine  opportunities,  almost 
immediately,  as  it  were,  after  I  have  broken  the  ice. 
Such  has  been  William's  generous  kindness  that  I 
can  hardly  excuse  myself  in  thus  reaping  advantages 
which  should  in  justice  be  his  and  not  mine. 

I  feel  a  strong  wish  to  ramble  a  little  in  England 
before  forsaking  Europe  forever.  .  .  .  My  expenses 
are  very  small,  and  this  is  some  consolation  when  I 
think  how  much  I  have  taxed  William.  I  have 
glorious  means  before  me  for  studying  geology,  espe- 


J3T.  28.]  RURAL  ENGLAND.  99 

cially  if  I  were   to  steal  a  month  or  six  weeks  in 
pedestrian  excursions.  .  .  . 


HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

LONDON,  January  5,  1833. 

DEAR  WILLIAM,  —  ...  It  would  be  no  easy  mat- 
ter to  describe  the  Christmas  doings  in  England, 
though  it  all  seems  to  centre  in  but  one  indulgence. 
This  eating  nation  seems  to  devote  all  its  energies  at 
this  time  to  plum-pudding,  and  energy  enough  does 
it  require.  The  lectures  throughout  London  being 
suspended,  I  embraced  the  holidays  to  make  a  short 
excursion  with  an  acquaintance  into  the  country,  to 
see  a  little  of  England's  geology.  He  being,  like 
many  of  the  English,  an  excellent  walker,  and  know- 
ing how  beneficial  the  exercise  is  always  to  myself, 
we  went  on  foot,  and  shaped  our  rambles  toward  the 
lower  end  of  Kent.  Leaving  our  place  of  lodging  in 
London  in  the  evening,  we  walked  sixteen  miles,  a 
light  frost  on  the  ground,  a  bright  moon  above,  a 
smooth  footpath  leading  us  over  hill  and  dale,  the 
mists  of  night  sleeping  in  the  valleys,  and  once  in 
every  while  a  solitary  horseman  on  patrol  saluting  us 
with  the  protecting  words,  "Good-night." 

We  passed  several  villages,  with  their  gray  church 
towers,  every  spot  teeming  with  the  records  of  old 
England's  stormy  history.  But  it  was  when  we  reached 
our  inn  that  I  recognized  in  full  strength  in  what  land 
I  was  staying.  Entering  the  little  parlour,  I  thought 
I  saw  some  picture  from  Smollett  or  Fielding,  —  a 
bright  coal-fire,  and  around  a  table  near  it  the  host 
and  several  sturdy  farmers,  each  pipe  in  hand,  a  pot 
of  beer  at  his  elbow,  and  all  busy  at  the  truly  English 
game  of  cribbage,  —  the  short  breeches  and  gaiters 
and  deep  waistcoats  were  so  like  my  own  early  picture 
of  English  rural  life. 

The  next  day  we  went  twenty-four  miles  by  one 
o'clock  to  Maidstone,  a  fine  old  town  on  the  Medway, 


100  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.       [1833. 

studying  the  country  as  we  went,  and  culling  speci- 
mens of  all  the  rocks  passed.  My  great  object  was 
to  procure  fossils,  and  I  wished,  therefore,  to  reach 
the  district  called  the  Weald,  in  the  clays  of  which 
they  are  so  abundant,  and  where  those  immense  re- 
mains of  saurians,  etc.,  are  chiefly  found.  We  were 
likewise  to  go  to  the  Island  of  Sheppy,  in  the  Thames, 
but  a  change  of  weather  prevented  our  reaching 
either  and  drove  us  hastily  up  to  London.  I  learned 
much  from  this  ramble,  and  I  also  found  myself 
stronger  from  the  exercise.  Sheppy  is  a  formation 
where  they  find  an  immense  deposit  of  extinct  fruits 
and  seeds,  all  similar  to  those  now  growing  in  the 
tropics.  A  parcel  of  these  I  have,  and  shall  take 
home  with  me  a  collection  of  them.  .  .  . 

You  may  remember,  my  dear  William,  that  years 
ago  in  Baltimore  we  read  in  the  "Edinburgh  Review" 
an  article  on  the  Hazelwood  School,  near  Birmingham. 
I  am  very  good  friends  with  the  proprietors  of  that 
fine  school.  Two  of  the  Messrs.  Hill  possess  a  branch 
school  seven  miles  from  London,  and  now,  during  the 
holidays,  old  Mr.  Hill  with  the  whole  family  are  up 
from  Birmingham  at  Bruce  Castle,  where  I  go  to-mor- 
row to  dine  and  stay  a  day  or  two.  The  older  Hill, 
the  founder  of  these  very  superior  schools,  was  for- 
merly a  great  friend  and  espouser  of  Priestley.  The 
elder  son  has  just  been  returned  to  Parliament  for 
Hull,  and  is  a  great  favourite  with  Brougham.  All 
the  brothers  —  there  being  four  —  are  men  of  fine 
education  and  first-rate  talent. 

.  .  .  The  papers  are  all  making  comments  on  the 
resistance  of  South  Carolina  to  our  government,  and 
on  the  President's  memorial,  the  general  sentiment 
being  one  of  sympathy  with  the  South,  and  of  surprise 
that  we  should  find  any  bone  to  quarrel  over.  Alas ! 
the  true  condition  of  America's  politics  is  but  little 
understood  here.  .  .  . 

The  dread  of  the  cholera  affected  the  prosperity 


Mf.  28.]  DISCOURAGEMENT.  101 

of  William  and  Mary  College,  which  had  long  had 
the  reputation  of  possessing  an  unhealthy  situation. 
The  classes  were  smaller  than  usual,  and  to  Wil- 
liam the  outlook  for  the  old  college,  now  threatened 
by  the  growing  prosperity  of  its  formidable  rival,  the 
University  of  Virginia,  was  discouraging.  Something 
of  this  feeling  must  have  been  reflected  in  his  letters 
to  Kobert,  who  writes  :  — 

ROBERT  TO   WILLIAM. 

NEW  YOKK,  January  7,  1833. 

DEAR  WILLIAM,  ...  It  grieves  me  that  you  are 
subject  to  strains  of  melancholy  such  as  your  last 
letter  seems  to  have  left  you  in  ;  but  really,  my  dear 
brother,  I  think  you  have  little,  very  little,  cause  thus 
to  be  sad.  Your  career  has  been  one  of  success,  vir- 
tue and  usefulness,  but  of  the  latter,  perhaps,  less 
than  your  benevolent  heart  would  lead  you  to  de- 
sire, and  certainly  less  than  your  abilities  would  en- 
able you  to  perform:  wherever  you  may  be  placed, 
you  cannot  fail  to  find  yourself  comfortable  and  in- 
dependent ;  you  will  make  friends  wherever  you 
go,  and  with  your  powers  and  acquirements  you  are 
sure  of  success  in  whatever  undertaking  you  may  em- 
bark. .  .  . 

It  has  always  been,  and  always  will  be,  I  think,  my 
craving  to  follow,  in  some  measure,  in  the  track  of 
my  brothers,  —  to  become  a  teacher.  I  know  of  no- 
thing that  I  should  like  better  than  to  be  an  instruc- 
tor in  a  school.  .  .  .  Engineering  holds  out  but  very 
few  inducements,  for  only  those  who  have  been  edu- 
cated at  West  Point  stand  in  the  way  of  promotion, 
and  can  look  forward  to  certainty  of  success ;  they 
alone  are  sure  of  constant  occupation  in  the  profes- 
sion.1 .  .  . 

1  Civil  engineering,  as  a  distinct  branch,  had  hardly  yet  arisen.  The 
only  "  engineers  "  were  military  engineers  from  West  Point. 


102  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1833. 


NEW  YORK,  March  1,  1833. 

...  I  believe,  but  I  am  not  certain,  that  I  men- 
tioned in  my  last  letter  that  I  had  given  four  lectures, 
the  first  and  second  on  chemical  affinity,  the  third 
on  electricity,  the  fourth  on  testing  and  analysis ; 
and,  as  a  powerful  agent  in  effecting  decomposition,  I 
introduced  galvanism,  making  use  of  a  voltaic  pile  of 
a  hundred  plates  ;  the  experiment  with  this  succeeded 
finely.  I  decomposed  water,  the  bubbles  of  its  two 
gases  flying  off  in  copious  and  constant  streams,  being 
received  into  small  glass,  graduated  tubes,  which  in- 
dicated exactly  the  proportion  of  their  volumes  as 
two  to  one.  I  also  decomposed  sulphate  of  soda,  using 
three  cups,  and  putting  the  salt  in  the  middle  one  and 
an  infusion  of  cabbage  in  the  two  end  ones ;  it  was 
beautiful  to  remark  that  that  at  the  positive  end  turned 
red,  while  that  at  the  negative  end  turned  green. 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS   UNCLE   JAMES. 

WILLIAM  AND  MARY,  February  22,  1833. 
...  Of  local  news,  my  dear  uncle,  I  have  none  to 
transcribe  ;  of  the  general  public  news  of  the  day,  you 
are  doubtless  much  better  aware  than  I.  Is  not  the 
threatened  tempest  to  be  averted  by  measures  of  con- 
ciliation now  proposed  ?  Will  the  present  brighten- 
ing prospects  again  be  overshadowed  by  the  fatal  ob- 
stinacy of  either  or  both  the  contending  parties  ?  Are 
we  to  have  peace  or  fratricidal  war?  These  questions 
daily  agitate  and  concern  my  thoughts,  but  of  the  course 
of  events  I  feel  but  ill  qualified  to  judge.  Can  you 
not  enlighten  me  on  these  points  by  views  derived 
from  your  better  knowledge  and  ample  experience? 
Another  subject  on  which  I  feel  interested  to  learn 
your  opinion  is  the  doctrines  sustained  in  the  procla- 
mation. You  know  in  general  they  are  anti-Virginian, 
though  there  is  a  large  party  in  the  State  inclined 
partially  to  embrace  them.  In  this  part  of  the  State 


.ET.  28.]  POLITICS.  103 

the  politics  are  ultra-Southern.     Here,  therefore,  the 
proclamation  is  almost  universally  condemned. 

I  understand  that  Mr.  Rives,  our  minister,  has  given 
such  dissatisfaction  to  the  legislature  that  a  propo- 
sition has  just  been  offered  in  that  body  requesting 
him  to  resign  his  seat  in  Congress.  Mr.  Tyler,  who 
expected  to  be  excluded,  has  been  elected  by  a  majority 
of  one.  Mr.  Leigh  has  not  returned.  .  .  . 


WILLIAM  AND  MARY,  April  15,  1833. 

.  .  .  From  Mr.  Joseph  Cabell,  a  Visitor  of  the  Uni- 
versity [of  Virginia],  and  a  very  particular  friend  of 
mine,  I  have  lately  received  very  strong  hints  of  the 
probability  of  a  vacancy  in  that  institution  in  the 
current  or  following  year.  Possibly  the  preparations 
now  in  progress  towards  the  institution  of  the  Girard 
College  have  led  to  this  prospect  on  his  part.  Should 
such  a  vacancy  occur,  I  have  reason  to  expect  from 
him  and  others  all  the  assistance  requisite  to  assure 
my  appointment.  Of  these  subjects,  it  is  needless 
to  say,  I  speak  to  no  one  but  my  brothers  and  your- 
self. . 


These  were  the  days  of  "  nullification,"  and  the  po- 
litical references  are  to  the  proclamation  of  the  Pres- 
ident (Jackson)  in  response  to  the  action  of  South 
Carolina. 

Henry,  after  much  hesitation,  decided  to  remain  in 
England  until  after  the  meeting  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation, which  occurred  in  June  at  Cambridge.  His 
stay  appears  to  have  been  of  the  highest  service  to 
him,  and  through  him  eventually  to  all  the  brothers. 
So  attractive  did  he  find  his  scientific  and  especially 
his  geological  work,  that  this  appears  to  have  rapidly 
overshadowed  in  importance  the  purely  philanthropic 
objects  which  had  carried  him  over  the  sea.  Still  his 


104  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1833. 

interest  in  the  latter  did  not  cease,  and  he  even  gave 
public  lectures  in  the  halls  of  the  reformers.  But  his 
pursuit  of  science  became  constantly  more  eager,  and 
before  long  he  was  honored  by  an  election  as  Fellow  of 
the  Geological  Society  of  London.  His  experiences 
are  fully  detailed  in  letters  to  his  brother  William 
and  his  uncle  James.  We  quote  the  following  ex- 
tracts :  — 

HENRY  TO  WILLIAM. 

LONDON,  February  14,  1833. 

.  .  .  Parliament  is  in  full  tide  of  debate,  and  a 
crisis  of  deep  interest  is  close  at  hand  for  England 
and,  above  all,  for  poor,  unhappy  Ireland.  The  mis- 
eries in  that  devoted  land  pass  conception.  I  have 
acquaintance  with  two  or  three  of  the  more  aristo- 
cratic families  from  Ireland,  whose  relatives  are  in  the 
Commons,  and  their  description  of  the  country  would 
truly  appall  you.  O'Connell  is  taking  a  very  elevated 
position,  and  has  already  waged  a  most  tremendous 
attack  upon  the  King's  address.  He  will  either  effect 
the  Repeal  of  the  Union,  or  Ireland  will  be  in  open 
insurrection  before  another  year.  .  .  . 

It  is  highly  amusing  to  observe  the  determined  style 
in  which  Cobbett  forces  the  proud  and  scornful  aris- 
tocracy of  the  House  of  Commons  to  give  attention  to 
his  scoldings.  He  has  been  flogging  some  of  the  high 
spirits  most  rarely.  O'Connell,  as  you  will  see  by  the 
papers,  is  laying  about  him  with  a  very  heavy  hand. 

LONDON,  March  6,  1833. 

I  should  mention  that  at  the  last  meeting  of  the 
Society  a  very  curious  communication  was  read  from 
Brewster1onthe  origin  of  the  diamond.  From  exam- 
ining the  effects  of  polarized  light  on  certain  minute 
cavities  in  it,  he  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  it  has 
been  originally  soft  like  a  gum,  and  he  gives  to  it  a  simi- 
lar source  to  the  amber.  I  hardly  know  what  to  think 

1  Sir  David  Brewster,  Scottish  natural  philosopher. 


&i.  28.]  VCONNELL.  105 

of  the  notion.  About  every  two  weeks  the  President 
of  the  Society,  Mr.  Greenough,  who  is  an  extremely 
wealthy  and  munificent  man,  entertains  the  members 
and  other  friends  at  his  house  in  Regent's  Park.  I 
have  access  to  all  his  parties,  and  such  luxury  in 
science  I  have  never  before  seen.  His  library  and 
cabinet  are  a  scene  of  perfect  enchantment.  He  is  a 
very  cordial  old  man.  I  met  there  Babbage,  Ure, 
Lubbock,  Davies,  Gilbert,  etc.,  but  none  so  awakened 
my  admiration  as  Babbage. 

At  the  last  conversazione  in  the  Royal  Institution, 
Faraday's  lecture  was  on  the  nature  and  cure  of  dry- 
rot.  He  detailed  a  series  of  very  elaborate  and  suc- 
cessful experiments  now  making  by  himself  and  others 
on  the  efficacy  of  solutions  of  corrosive  sublimate  in 
completely  preserving  timber,  canvas,  etc.,  from  de- 
cay by  this  malady,  which  he  showed  us  to  result  com- 
monly from  parasitic  vegetation.  Wheatstone  lectures 
there  to-morrow  night  on  some  of  his  own  discoveries 
in  vision  and  sound. 

And  now  for  politics.  I  have  heard  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell,  not  only  in  the  House  of  Commons,  but  in  an 
immense  assembly  of  the  National  Union,  and  cer- 
tainly none  but  a  son  of  poor,  despised  Ireland  could 
display  such  eloquence,  at  times  so  tremendous  and 
terrific,  and  at  moments  so  melting  and  so  tender. 
He  looks  a  very  Hercules ;  and  from  his  sturdy,  coarse 
frame,  bull  neck,  and  ploughman  air,  no  one  on  first 
sight  would  ever  suspect  him  the  man  of  genius  which 
he  is.  O'Connell  is  making  a  desperate  and  powerful 
opposition  to  the  Irish  Coercion  Bill,  as  it  is  called ; 
and,  should  you  see  in  the  papers  the  despotic  nature 
of  the  yoke  to  be  imposed  on  that  country,  you  will 
not  wonder  at  the  frenzy  it  excites  among  the  Irish. 
Still,  I  fear  the  bill  will  pass,  and  what  new  act  will 
follow  in  this  fearful  drama  the  fates  who  brew  the 
mischief  only  know.  O'Connell's  influence  in  his 
country  is  supreme,  even  to  exciting  the  people  into 
tranquillity.  If  he  escapes  the  vengeance  of  his  foes, 


106          WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.       [1833. 

and  runs  his  career  unharmed,  I  am  pretty  sure  that 
liberty  in  Ireland  will  triumph.  .  .  . 

LONDON,  March  30, 1833. 

...  I  think  I  mentioned  to  you  my  expectation 
of  becoming  a  Fellow  of  the  Geological  Society ;  on 
Wednesday  last  I  was  regularly  nominated  by  Turner, 
De  la  Beche  1Murchison,  and  several  others,  and  my 
card  suspended  for  a  few  weeks  prior  to  my  election, 
which  now,  however,  is  certain.  It  will  be  a  source  of 
some  pleasure  to  me,  more  especially  when  I  remember, 
as  I  always  shall,  the  kind  and  friendly  way  in  which 
Turner,  De  la  Beche,  etc.,  have  taken  me  by  the  hand. 
Mr.  Greenough,  the  President,  also  expressed  very 
kindly  his  pleasure  at  finding  that  they  were  to  have  a 
young  and  active  fellow-labourer  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic.  This  silly  bit  of  F.  G.  S.  and  the  other 
points  mentioned,  together  with  a  strong  desire  to  see 
a  little  of  England  out  of  London,  decide  me  to  remain 
longer  than  I  contemplated.  De  la  Beche  is  occupied 
with  a  geological  survey  of  Devonshire,  Cornwall  and 
most  of  the  South  of  England  just  now,  for  the  great 
ordnance  maps,  under  the  direction  of  Government, 
and  he  desires  that  I  shall  visit  him  in  Devonshire  to 
study  the  subject  practically  from  nature  and  from  his 
lessons.  This  I  esteem  a  great  privilege,  as  it  will  fit 
me,  as  you  perceive  at  once,  to  do  the  like  at  home, 
whenever  the  pursuit  may  prove  desirable.  And  I 
shall  take  notes,  collect  specimens,  and  I  doubt  not,  in 
the  exquisite  air  of  Devonshire,  get  fat  and  rosy  cheeks. 

De  la  Beche  is  bringing  out  an  entirely  new  edition 
of  his  work  in  very  perfect  form.  He  very  kindly 
offers  to  put  the  new  edition  proofs  in  my  hands  when 
I  go,  sending  the  remainder  after  me  as  they  appear, 
that  I  may  republish  it  with  notes  of  my  own, — a  mark 
of  regard  that  I  value.  He  leaves  the  thing  quite 
to  my  option,  but  will  give  me  the  chance,  whether 
I  accept  or  not.  What  think  you?  Could  we  not 
do  something  good  in  this  way  in  your  vacation,  you 

1  Sir  H.  T.  De  la  Beche,  English  geologist. 


^T.  28.]  FARADAY.  107 

doing  the  authorship,  I  doing  the  geology  with  you  ? 
...  I  was  at  the  great  Priestley  dinner,  saw  all  the 
great  men  of  the  age  in  science,  —  Faraday,  Dalton, 
Cummings,  Daubeny,  etc., — and  heard  them  speak. 
Faraday  is  a  prodigious  favourite.  So  is  Turner.  .  .  . 

LONDON,  May  22, 1833. 

.  .  .  Since  my  visit  to  Oxford  and  return  to  Lon- 
don I  find  I  should  be  resigning  chances  of  improve- 
ment, of  a  kind  and  importance  I  was  not  aware  of,  by 
returning  home  at  once.  Being  now  a  Fellow  of  the 
Geological  Society,  I  should  by  right  become  a  mem- 
ber of  this  Annual  Association  of  the  Philosophers  of 
the  Kingdom,  they  admitting  me  to  a  full  share  in  all 
their  proceedings  and  privileges,  with  an  especially 
welcome  reception  by  them  as  a  foreigner ;  so,  many 
of  the  members,  Faraday,  Sedgwick  of  Cambridge, 
etc.,  tell  me.  .  .  . 

My  intercourse  with  the  men  of  science  is  every  day 
becoming  more  easy  and  valuable  to  me.  I  go,  free  of 
ceremony,  to  almost  any  of  the  societies,  once  every 
week  to  the  Royal,  and,  now  that  Faraday  and  I  are 
familiar,  without  even  a  member's  ticket,  to  the  Royal 
Institution.  Faraday  is,  I  fancy,  the  leading  man  now 
in  England,  and  I  shall  not  be  surprised  to  witness  his 
fame  much  augmented ;  he  seems  to  be  certainly  on 
the  train  of  some  very  important  discoveries  in  regard 
to  electricity.  He  reads  a  paper  at  the  Royal  Society 
to-morrow  night  on  a  new  law  he  has  discovered  in 
electric  conduction. 

I  went  to  Oxford  under  excellent  auspices,  previ- 
ously acquainted  with  one  or  two  of  the  professors 
and  taking  letters.  They  entertained  me  for  two  days 
most  hospitably.  I  was  present  at  their  society,  where 
I  met  the  whole  body,  went  to  several  lectures,  saw  all 
the  colleges,  museums,  Bodleian  Library,  etc.  Dined 
twice  in  College  Hall,  with  the  Professors  and  Fellows 
in  their  gowns  and  caps,  at  Magdalen  College,  and 
attended  them  in  great  state  to  Chapel,  the  most  beau- 


108  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.       [1833. 

tiful  piece  of  Gothic,  by  the  way,  I  have  ever  seen,  and 
with  the  finest  choir  of  boys.  Had  I  not  been  tied  by 
my  trip  to  Bath,  I  should  have  stayed  with  them  a 
week,  for  invitations  to  meetings,  dinners,  etc.,  were 
crowding  upon  me  the  morning  I  left. 

I  am  getting  now  some  little  insight  into  good  soci- 
ety in  London,  and  am  invited  to  dinner  oftener  some- 
times than  I  wish.  I  go  to  dine  with  a  gentleman  to- 
morrow where  I  shall  meet  many  very  eminent  men. 
I  only  wish  my  dear  brother  William  were  here  to 
partake,  as  he  would  more  beneficially  than  I  can,  of 
the  good  spirit  thus  shown  me.  .  .  . 

After  Henry's  return  in  the  summer  the  brothers 
William,  Henry  and  Robert  appear  to  have  been  to- 
gether until  the  autumn,  probably  in  Philadelphia. 
On  the  opening  of  the  college  William  returned  to 
Williamsburg,  while  Henry  and  Robert  remained  in 
Philadelphia,  the  former  offering  lectures  on  geology 
to  the  public  to  be  delivered  at  the  Franklin  Insti- 
tute, the  latter  attending  the  medical  school  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania.  James  meantime  con- 
tinued to  live  in  Baltimore,  and  still  retained  his  con- 
nection as  Professor  of  Chemistry  with  the  struggling 
medical  school  to  which  reference  has  been  made. 
Robert's  ingenuity  and  mechanical  skill,  for  which  he 
was  noted,  as  well  as  other  matters,  are  touched  upon 
in  the  following  letter  :  — 


EGBERT   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  November  15,  1833. 

.  .  .  James,  being  desirous  of  having  a  galvanometer, 
and  not  minutely  aware  of  its  construction,  desired  me 
to  send  him  one.  I  took  some  pains,  and  have  made 
him,  I  think,  a  very  beautiful  and  complete  instrument. 
It  is  on  the  plan  we  last  proposed  as  best,  that  in  which 


2Br.  29.]  4    GALVANOMETER.  109 

straws  are  used :  the  lower  one,  to  sustain  the  needle, 
I  made  four  inches  long,  so  that  it  might  be  astatic. 
At  right  angles  to  the  magnet  I  placed  a  very  fine 
straw ;  this,  as  an  index,  vibrates  over  an  arc  of  60°. 
The  arc  at  the  sides  and  end  is  walled  by  a  rim  of 
paper,  and  on  the  top  is  an  arc  of  glass,  the  whole  to 
protect  the  needle  from  agitation ;  it  acts  finely. 

Since  finishing  this,  Henry  and  myself  have  been 
busily  engaged  in  preparing  for  his  lectures,  which  are 
to  be  delivered  in  the  Franklin  Institute.  You  cannot 
imagine  what  a  beautiful  set  of  models  to  illustrate 
crystallography  we  have  made ;  they  are  constructed 
of  glass,  which  is  put  together  by  means  of  gum  and 
small  slips  of  colored  paper.  They  not  only  present 
the  simple  and  primitive  forms,  but  also  illustrate  the 
resolution  of  one  crystal  from  another.  Henry  is  at 
my  elbow,  and  bids  me  ask  you  to  give  him  as  many 
hints  as  to  the  method  of  treating  the  subject-matter 
of  lecturing,  etc.,  as  you  can,  and  to  write  very  soon, 
as  he  delivers  his  first  on  this  day  two  weeks.  He  at 
present  thinks  of  treating  first  of  Physical  Geology, 
or  the  present  existing  causes  modifying  the  earth's 
structure.  The  Institute  is  attended  by  an  over- 
flowing class,  and  I  doubt  not  that  Henry  will  show 
them  that  he  understands  the  subject  and  do  himself 
much  credit.  .  .  . 

William's  attention  was  now  turned  more  and  more 
to  geology.  The  powerful  stimulus  which  Henry  had 
received  in  London  towards  geological  investigation 
seems  to  have  been  an  impulse  which  reacted  also  on 
William,  who  set  on  foot  inquiries  into  the  marl,  green- 
sand,  and  other  deposits  of  Virginia l  that  soon  brought 
him  into  public  notice,  and  into  correspondence  with 
some  of  the  foremost  men  of  the  country. 

In  the  following  spring  he  was  attacked  by  a  severe 

1  See  Geology  of  the  Virginias.    Appleton,  N.  Y.,  1884. 


110  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.       [1834. 

illness,  characterized  by  chills  and  fever.  During 
his  absence  in  Philadelphia,  to  which  place  he  went 
to  recruit  his  health,  his  friend  and  colleague,  Pro- 
fessor Dew,  addressed  to  him  a  letter  giving  news  of 
Williamsburg :  — 

FROM   PROFESSOR   T.    R.   DEW. 

WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE,  April  23,  1834. 

You  have  no  doubt  heard  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Empie 
all  the  news  which  our  miserably  dull  city  can  furnish. 
We  are  travelling  our  eternal  round  of  dulness  and 
insipidity  as  usual,  —  lecturing,  to  me  more  intolerable 
than  ever. 

.  .  .  Dr.  Peachy  proved  to  me,  as  logically  as  the 
47th  problem  is  demonstrated  in  Euclid,  that  we  are  to 
have  ten  students  from  Frederick  alone  next  year,  and 
numbers  almost  innumerable  from  other  quarters.  I 
am  afraid  this  good  news  will  neither  stop  your  chills 
nor  make  you  strut.  I  have  reason  to  believe  more 
strongly  than  ever,  however,  that  if  next  year  is  a 
failure  like  the  present,  the  Visitors  will  consent  to  a 
removal  of  the  college.  Be  therefore  of  good  cheer, 
and  continue  present  sacrifice  for  future  fame.  .  .  . 

An  interval  of  more  than  six  months  occurs  in  the 
series  of  letters.  It  is  probable  that  the  brothers  (ex- 
cept James)  were  together  during  the  summer.  It 
would  appear  that  William  was  occupied  in  field-work 
in  Virginia  and  with  investigations  of  mineral  springs. 
It  was  during  this  period  that  the  first  important 
scientific  publications  of  the  brothers  began.  In  June, 
1834,  William  addressed  two  communications  to  the 
"Farmer's  Register,"  of  Virginia,  and  at  about  the 
same  time  made  his  first  contribution  to  "  Silliman's 
Journal." 

The  contributions  to  the  "  Farmer's  Register  "  (vol. 


JET.  29.]  PAPERS   ON  GEOLOGY.  Ill 

ii.)  are  entitled,  "  Some  Observations  on  the  Tertiary 
Marl  of  Lower  Virginia,"  and  "  Further  Observations 
on  the  Green  Sand  and  Calcareous  Marl  of  Lower 
Virginia."  These  are  dated  from  William  and  Mary 
College,  June  26  and  June  27  respectively.  Later  in 
the  same  year  (1834)  "  Silliman's  Journal "  contained 
two  articles  by  William,  and  one  under  the  joint 
authorship  of  William  and  Henry.1 

In  the  following  letter,  Henry  refers  to  a  corre- 
spondence with  the  elder  Silliman,  professor  at  Yale 
and  editor  of  the  "Journal"  in  which  the  brothers 
were  now  publishing  the  results  of  their  researches. 
The  letter  affords  a  good  example  of  the  incitements 
to  work  which  the  brothers  constantly  supplied  one 
to  another,  and  also  the  variety  of  their  scientific 
interests : — 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  November  28,  1834. 

Having  received  a  very  friendly  letter  from  Silli- 
man in  which  you  are  as  much  interested  as  myself, 
I  enclose  it,  to  save  the  trouble  of  copying,  and  to 
put  you  fully  in  possession  of  his  expectations  from 
us.  ... 

If  you  furnish  him  anything  on  the  Virginia  Springs, 
it  can  only  be  a  mere  report,  which  would,  perhaps,  if 
carefully  drawn  up,  be  calculated  to  whet  the  a] 
tite  for  your  book,  which  I  assume  is  a  godd 
talked  of.  ... 

I  begin  to  think  that  we  shall  hold  enviable  ground 
by  and  by  if  we  persevere.  Can  you  help  me  to  some 
references  upon  the  subject  of  the  twinkling  of  the 
stars,  a  matter  I  am  writing  on  for  the  American 
Philosophical  Society.  .  .  . 

Remember   my   advice    about  your   book ;    never 

1  Experimental  Enquiry  into  Some  of  the  Laws  of  the  Elementary 
Voltaic  Battery,  vol.  xxvii.  pp.  39-61. 


112  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1834. 

more  than  two  hours'  writing  per  day,  and  no  copy- 
ing. 

Will  you  have  anything,  however  short,  for  the 
Philosophical  Society  in  three  weeks  ?  .  .  . 

I  have  had  a  letter  from  James  on  electro-magnet- 
ism which  I  shall  soon  send  you.  .  .  . 

I  wish  much  you  were  here.  Can  you  not  collect 
some  geology  about  the  coal  mines  of  Richmond  ?  .  .  . 

Keep  a  sharp  lookout  for  the  eclipse,  but  you  will 
scarcely  get  this  in  time.  .  .  . 

The  following  refers  to  a  possibility  which  had 
arisen  of  William's  appointment  to  some  position  in 
Philadelphia,  and  also  to  an  attempt  about  to  be 
made  to  induce  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  to  in- 
augurate a  geological  survey  of  the  State,  such  as 
Massachusetts,  Maryland  and  Tennessee  had  already 
instituted. 


WILLIAM    TO   HENRY. 


WILLIAM  AKD  MAKY,  November  30,  1834. 

.  .  .  Firstly,  of  the  contents  of  your  letter  so  far 
as  relates  to  myself.  I  owe  many  kind  thanks  to 
Dallas 1  for  this  evidence  of  his  friendly  regard,  and  I 
hope  he  will  feel  assured  of  the  grateful  pleasure  with 
which  his  proposal  affected  me.  Of  the  expediency  of 
my  accepting  the  offer  I  really  know  not  what  to  think. 
I  have  endeavoured  disinterestedly,  and  in  calm  pru- 
dence, to  weigh  all  the  reasons  and  motives  pro  and 
con,  and  I  confess  I  am  still  in  doubt.  Had  the  opening 
occurred  last  season  I  would  have  embraced  it,  perhaps 
without  hesitation.  But  now  that  the  college  is  decid- 
edly looking  up,  my  health  improved,  and  (I  may  say 
it  without  vanity)  my  reputation  in  Virginia  rapidly 
rising,  while  at  the  same  time  a  much  wider  field  of 
exertion  seems  likely  to  open  before  me,  I  feel  that  the 
advantages  of  a  situation  in  Philadelphia,  great  as  they 

1  Dallas  Bache,  afterward  Superintendent  U.  S.  Coast  Survey. 


JET.  80.]        PROSPECTS   OF  THE  SURVEY.          113 

are  from  every  point  of  view,  are  less  decidedly  pre- 
ponderant than  they  would  have  been  at  any  former 
time.  Yet  when  I  recur  to  the  still  doubtful  nature  of 
my  hopes  of  public  employment  in  geology  in  Virginia, 
and  also  the  precarious  tenure  by  which  my  health 
must  always  be  held  in  this  climate,  I  almost  decide 
for  a  removal.  So  far  as  reputation  in  the  community 
is  concerned,  I  believe  that  I  shall  soon  have  no  com- 
petition among  the  scientific  men  of  the  State.  Letters 
are  coming  to  me  every  mail  asking  advice  on  the 
subject  of  marl  or  some  other  thing.  All  these  things 
are  in  favour  of  my  present  residence.  If  I  could  be 
certain  of  obtaining  the  geological  appointment  this 
winter,  I  think  that  would  decide  me  to  remain  here, 
unless,  indeed,  it  could  be  combined  with  my  duties 
in  Philadelphia.  To  obtain  such  a  situation  from  the 
legislature,  or,  indeed,  to  urge  them  to  any  measure  of 
the  kind,  will  require  great  activity,  not  only  of  me  but 
of  all  my  friends.  .  .  .  By  the  first  or  second  week  in 
January,  I  should  know  what  the  legislature  can  be 
prevailed  upon  to  do.  In  the  mean  time  might  you  not, 
as  you  have  already  proposed,  undertake  the  "Journal," 
etc.  ?  I  wish  you  to  give  me  your  opinion  on  the  point 
by  return  of  mail.  I  am  sure  that  I  could  eventually 
do  well  in  Philadelphia,  but  here  I  have  already 
obtained  firm  footing,  and  this  is  what  "  gives  me 
pause." 

I  have  been  waiting  for  a  private  opportunity  to 
forward  shells,  etc.,  to  Philadelphia,  but  I  shall  wait 
no  longer.  In  a  few  days  I  despatch  them  to  Norfolk, 
thence  to  be  sent  by  packet.  Of  most  of  the  speci- 
mens I  shall  retain  a  sample  myself,  marking  what 
I  send  and  what  I  retain  with  the  same  number  or 
letter.  I  wish  Conrad1  and  yourself  to  name  the 
shells  as  numbered,  so  that  I  may  thus  learn  through 

1  T.  A.  Conrad,  American  paleontologist,  Philadelphia.  These 
shells  -were  described  by  W.  B.  Rogers  and  H.  D.  Rogers  in  a  series 
of  contributions  to  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  1835,  1837, 
1839. 


114          WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.       [1834. 

you  their  true  denominations.  Many  of  them  I  know 
already.  If  you  have  received  the  November  number 
of  the  "Register"  you  will  find  in  it  my  article  on 
Artesian  Wells.  .  .  . 

WILLIAM  AND  MARY,  December  22,  1834 
.  .  .  You  speak  of  my  intended  publication  on  the 
Springs.  I  am  very  anxious  to  have  it  ready  by  an 
early  day,  but  I  feel  still  more  solicitous  to  have  my 
results  complete  and  perfect.  For  nearly  a  month 
past  I  have  been  daily  at  work  in  further  analysis. 
Having  water  from  many  of  the  springs,  I  went  over 
some  of  my  summer's  work,  and  pursued  the  same 
process  with  several  springs  which  I  had  not  then 
examined  for  saline  matter.  I  was  alarmed  to  find 
in  the  latter  that  the  barytic  precipitants  usually 
directed  would  throw  down  but  a  small  portion  of 
the  carbonic  acid  in  the  water.  I  had  ascertained 
in  the  summer  that  free  carbonic  acid  was  scarcely 
at  all  affected  by  nitrate  of  barytes,  and  I  was  soon 
induced  to  prepare  some  artificial  carbonated  water 
holding  up  a  little  carbonate  of  lime.  I  found  the 
"barytic  salt  precipitated  only  a  minute  portion  of  the 
carbonic  acid.  Hence  you  see  that  Murray's  formula 
will  not  apply  to  waters  of  this  kind.  With  my  ad- 
mirable marl  apparatus,1  however,  I  can  determine 
the  carbonic  acid  exactly  from  a  given  quantity  of 
solid  residuum  obtained  by  evaporation ;  so  that  I 
can  correct  the  deficient  quantity  of  carbonic  acid, 
which,  however,  I  find  to  be  excessively  slight  in  the 
White  Sulphur.  Of  course,  you  see  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  go  over  all  the  Springs  with  this  view.  Had 
I  the  analyses  to  perform  again  I  could  with  my  pres- 
ent knowledge  obtain  my  results  with  far  less  labour 
than  I  went  through  in  the  summer. 

On  January  1st  I  hope  to  put  pen  to  paper  in  be- 
ginning my  work,  but  in  the  mean  time  I  must  be 
extremely  busy.  What  I  have  said  about  the  inade- 

1  See  Geology  of  the  Virginias,  p.  10. 


Mf.  30.]  HENRY  PROMOTED.  115 

quacy  of  the  barytic  tests  is,  I  suppose,  known  to 
chemists,  but  it  is  nowhere  insisted  on.  My  marl 
apparatus  now  comes  into  most  admirable  play.  I 
did  use  it  occasionally  in  the  summer,  but  all  along 
imagined  that  the  other  process  was  sufficient.  .  .  . 

On  January  6,  1835,  Henry  was  elected  to  the  pro- 
fessorship of  geology  and  mineralogy  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania,  and  on  January  2,  to  membership 
in  the  American  Philosophical  Society. 

WILLIAM   TO   HENBT. 

WILLIAM  AND  MARY,  January  21,  1835. 

.  .  .  Nothing  is  doing  yet  on  the  subject  of  geology 
in  our  legislature.  Gregory  is  here,  and  tells  me  that 
a  proposition  will  probably  be  introduced  as  soon  as 
the  agitating  subject  of  electing  a  Senator  shall  have 
been  finished.  I  have  great  hopes  of  obtaining  the 
work.  Your  views  of  the  best  mode  of  prosecuting  a 
survey  would  be  of  great  interest  and  use  to  me. 
Please  let  me  have  a  copy  as  soon  as  possible. 

When  William  Martin  comes  on  in  the  spring,  you 
can  embrace  the  opportunity  of  sending  me  Lyell  and 
any  other  works  that  you  may  think  useful.  Please 
also  to  obtain  for  me  the  following  articles,  and  send 
them  by  the  same  or  an  earlier  opportunity :  — 

1  platinum  capsule,  such  as  I  had  a  year  ago. 

1  Ib.  of  absolute  alcohol  (French). 

Half  oz.  oxalate  ammonia. 

Half  Ib.  distilled  muriatic  acid  (pure). 

Half  Ib.  distilled  nitric  acid. 

1  four-ounce  phial  of  phosphate  of  ammonia. 

1  foot  of  small  platinum  wire  for  blowpipe. 

These  can  all  be  obtained  at  Smith's.  My  alcohol, 
with  all  the  economy  I  have  used,  is  almost  exhausted. 
The  gill  which  I  had  at  the  opening  of  the  course  has 
been  used  at  least  ten  times  in  analysis,  and,  though 


116  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1835. 

carefully  distilled  off  in  each  operation,  a  portion  of 
course  is  lost.  .  o  „ 

In  furtherance  of  the  interests  of  the  survey,  William 
went  to  Richmond  and,  after  appearing  before  the  leg- 
islative committee  having  the  matter  in  charge,  was 
awarded  the  privilege  of  addressing  the  lower  body, 
or  House  of  Delegates,  which  he  did  on  February  9, 
1835. 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

RICHMOND,  February  11,  1835. 

I  fear  you  have  been  anxious  on  account  of  my  un- 
usually long  silence,  but  I  am  sure  that  the  contents 
of  this  letter  will  more  than  compensate  you  for  your 
anxiety.  I  have  been  here  for  more  than  a  week, 
though  when  I  left  Williamsburg  I  designed  to  return 
in  a  day  or  two.  The  object  of  my  visit  you  have 
already  guessed.  I  am  almost  certain  that  I  shall 
accomplish  it.  A  geological  committee  has  been  ap- 
pointed by  the  legislature  to  report  upon  a  survey. 
Unprepared  as  I  was,  I  appeared  before  the  committee 
two  days  ago,  and,  in  an  harangue  of  an  hour  and  a 
half,  so  interested  them  in  the  matter  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  legislature  requested  me  to  make  an  ad- 
dress to  them  publicly  on  that  subject.  With  but  a 
few  hours'  warning  and  without  a  note,  and  without 
even  casting  a  thought  upon  how  I  was  to  address 
them,  and  with  only  one  illustration  (a  magnified 
section),  I  marched  into  the  hall  of  delegates  yester- 
day evening  at  half  past  seven.  At  least  three  hun- 
dred persons  had  already  appeared,  and  many  more 
crowded  in  afterwards.  At  my  right  were  Mr.  Stan- 
nard,  Mr.  Wickham,  and  several  of  the  judges  of  the 
Court  of  Appeals ;  around  me  on  all  sides  were  the 
numerous  members  of  both  Houses  of  Assembly.  It 
might  well  have  daunted  a  stouter  heart  than  mine. 
But  a  scarcely  momentary  tremor  gave  way  to  the 


^T.  30.]  AN  ADDRESS.  117 

conscious  feeling  of  the  importance  and  dignity  of 
the  occasion,  and  I  stood  forth  boldly  and  advocated, 
I  think  powerfully,  the  cause  of  geology,  developing 
a  few  of  its  most  important  truths,  and  displaying  the 
benefits  which  it  proffered  to  Virginia.  I  was  listened 
to  with  a  riveted  and  deep  attention,  which  satisfied 
me  of  the  interest  which  I  excited ;  and  without  once 
halting  or  stammering  or  becoming  confused  I  went 
on  for  upwards  of  an  hour,  and  when  I  closed  loud 
words  of  approbation  followed  me.  Stannard  and 
others,  here  esteemed  great  critics,  have  been  pleased 
to  pass  high  encomiums  on  my  address,  and  its  effect 
upon  the  legislature  is  acknowledged  to  have  been 
great.  What  think  you  of  my  being  asked  for  a  copy 
of  my  address  for  printing?  I  don't  remember  a 
syllable  of  it  now. 

Friends  say  that  the  legislature  will  authorize  a 
reconnaissance  this  year,  and  of  course  I  shall  have 
the  management  of  it.  You  must  help  me  all  you 
can.  .  .  . 

The  movement  for  the  establishment  of  a  geologi- 
cal survey  of  Virginia  came  before  the  legislature 
in  the  form  of  "  Certain  Memorials  from  Morgan, 
Frederick  and  Shenandoah  Counties  praying  for  a 
Geological  Survey  of  the  State,  with  a  view  to  the 
Discovery  and  Development  of  its  Geological  and 
Mineral  Resources."  These  petitions  were  referred 
to  a  select  committee  of  the  General  Assembly,  who 
submitted  (in  February,  1835)  a  lengthy  report. 
This  is  published  in  full  in  the  "  Geology  of  the  Vir- 
ginias," pp.  754-762.  The  following  letter  shows 
that  this  report  of  the  committee  was  prepared  by  Mr. 
Rogers :  — 


118  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1835. 


WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 


WIUJAMSBUKG,  February  27,  1835. 

.  .  .  Yesterday  I  received  the  printed  Report  of 
the  Geological  Committee,  together  with  the  bill, 
which  has  by  this  time  probably  passed  its  third  read- 
ing and  goes  up  to  the  Senate.  The  report  was  drawn 
up  by  me,  and  has  been  adopted  and  fathered  by  the 
Committee  without  a  syllable  of  change.  It  was  pro- 
nounced good.  The  bill  will  authorize  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  geologist,  and  if  needful  a  topographer,  by 
the  Board  of  Public  Works,  the  joint  emoluments  not 
to  exceed  83,000.  It  contemplates  a  reconnaissance  in 
the  first  place,  after  which  there  can  be  no  doubt  of 
a  complete  and  extensive  survey.  I  am  told  that 
there  is  little  doubt  that  the  bill  will  pass  ;  but  even 
if  it  should  not  now,  next  year  it  certainly  will.  The 
daily  papers  of  Richmond  have  lauded  my  efforts  in  a 
very  complimentary  style.  So  much  you  see  for  a  little 
enterprise.  How  much  I  wished  for  two  or  three  of 
your  drawings  at  my  public  lectures  !  With  the  aid 
of  one  of  the  engineers,  I  copied  on  a  large  scale  a 
portion  of  Coiiybeare's  European  section  by  way  of 
illustration,  and  this  was  all  I  had.  I  hope  Robert 
will  come  as  soon  as  he  is  able,  and  if  you  can  spare 
several  of  your  drawings  I  would  find  great  use  for 
them. 

Have  you,  or  can  you  get  for  me,  a  set  of  platinum 
wire  weights  ?  I  have  called  on  your  kindness  in  so 
many  ways  that  I  am  really  frightened  at  the  amount 
of  trouble  you  will  incur,  but  don't  let  anything  I 
ask  take  you  from  important  engagements.  Robert 
will  now  have  no  lectures  to  attend,  and  he  will  exe- 
cute my  commissions  readily,  I  am  sure.  .  .  . 

An  Act  establishing  the  survey  was  passed  on  March 
6,  1835,  and  William  was  soon  after  appointed  to 


2ET.  30.]  GEOLOGY.  119 

conduct  it.    Henry  began  about  the  end  of  May,  1835, 
a  similar  reconnaissance  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey. 


WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

WILLIAM  AND  MART,  March  25,  1835. 

Your  last  letter,  stating  your  hopes  of  being  ap- 
pointed to  make  the  reconnaissance  of  New  Jersey, 
gives  me  great  delight.  I  trust  that  we  shall  spend 
many  delightful  and  profitable  days  together  in  the 
field.  Your  suite  of  rocks  would  be  very  acceptable. 
Can  you  procure  a  small  specimen  of  strontianite  to 
bring  on,  or  have  you  any  of  the  strontian  or  barytic 
minerals  in  your  collection  ?  I  found  a  mineral  in  the 
calcareous  slate  this  summer  which  I  judge  to  be  of 
this  nature.  I  am  about  to  examine  it.  Bring  on 
specimens  of  the  New  Jersey  fossils.  How  I  long  for 
Dr.  Hayes's  work  and  Sowerby ! 

I  have  found  a  Crepidula  new  to  me.  It  is  very 
smooth  on  the  exterior,  and  the  beak  turns  up  beau- 
tifully so  as  to  resemble  the  Crepidula  communis 
ariells  of  Lea,  only  more  beautifully  rounded  at  the 
back.  .  .  . 

On  February  4,  1835,  Mr.  Eogers  was  elected  to 
membership  in  the  Virginia  Historical  and  Philosophi- 
cal Society  of  Richmond.  After  his  appointment  as 
Chief  of  the  Geological  Survey,  other  societies  in  Nor- 
folk and  elsewhere  in  Virginia,  as  well  as  the  more 
important  American  Philosophical  Society  of  Phila- 
delphia, offered  him  membership,  either  active  or 
honorary. 

But  now  a  far  more  important  step  than  any  he  had 
yet  taken  was  near,  —  namely,  his  removal  from  the 
malarious  climate  of  Williamsburg  to  the  more  salu- 
brious and  elevated  region  of  Charlottesville.  Early 


120  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE.        [1835. 

in  August  Mr.  Rogers  received  notice  of  his  election 
to  the  chair  of  Natural  Philosophy  in  the  University 
of  Virginia,  and  soon  after  signified  his  acceptance. 
He  was  now  in  his  thirty-first  year,  and  had  been 
for  seven  years  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  and 
Chemistry  in  the  College  of  William  and  Mary. 


OP  WILLIAM  AND  MASY  COLLEGE. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PROFESSOR  OF  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY  IN  THE  UNI- 
VERSITY AND  DIRECTOR  OF  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SUR- 
VEY OF  VIRGINIA. 

1835-1842. 

The  University  of  Virginia.  —  William  appointed  State  Geologist.— 
First  Report.  —  Lack  of  Assistants.  —  Henry  Geologist  of  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  —  Robert  graduates  in  Medicine.  —  Dis- 
turbances in  the  University  of  Virginia.  —  James  Professor  of 
Chemistry  in  Cincinnati.  —  Formation  of  the  Association  of  Ameri- 
can Geologists  and  Naturalists.  —  Student  Riots.  —  Opposition  to 
Geological  Surveys.  —  Chemical  Analysis.  —  Ill-health.  —  The  Na- 
tional Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Science.  —  Beginnings  of 
the  Smithsonian.  —  Discovery  of  Infusorial  Earth.  —  Chairman  of 
the  Faculty  of  the  University  killed  by  a  Student.  —  Vain  Efforts 
to  save  the  Survey  of  Virginia.  —  Henry  presides  at  the  Second 
Meeting  of  Geologists  and  Naturalists  in  Philadelphia.  —  Removal 
of  James  to  Philadelphia.  —  Lyell  visits  America.  —  A  Journey  to 
New  England.  —  Geological  Discussions.  —  William  and  Henry 
present  their  Memoir  on  the  Physical  Structure  of  the  Appala- 
chian Chain,  at  the  Third  Meeting  of  Geologists  and  Naturalists  in 
Boston. 

THE  University  of  Virginia  occupies  a  peculiar 
position  among  American  institutions  of  learning. 
Founded  by  an  ex-President  of  the  United  States  as 
an  embodiment  of  novel  and  liberal  ideas  of  univer- 
sity education ;  supported  chiefly  by  the  State,  free 
from  sectarian  control,  and  open  to  all  classes  of  the 
white  population ;  governed  on  the  part  of  the  State 
by  a  Board  of  Visitors,  and  on  the  part  of  the  instruc- 
tors by  the  Faculty  itself  which  was  without  a  presi- 


122     GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.     [1835. 

dent  and  answerable  only  to  this  Board ;  located  in 
buildings  expressly  designed  as  an  historical  architec- 
tural setting  for  a  thoroughly  modern  establishment, 
and  fearlessly  discarding  obsolete  or  obsolescent  edu- 
cational ideals ;  —  the  University  of  Virginia  has,  from 
the  outset,  been  entirely  unique.  Thomas  Jefferson, 
its  founder,  after  long  public  service  and  residence 
in  Europe,  conceived  and  carried  out  the  establish- 
ment of  the  University,  secured  for  it  the  support 
of  the  Commonwealth,  and  imposed  upon  it  not  only 
its  architectural  plan,  but  to  a  great  extent  its  pe- 
culiar educational  features.  Jefferson  himself  was 
a  graduate  of  William  and  Mary,  but  he  did  not 
hesitate,  in  the  interests  of  freer  and  higher  educa- 
tion, to  view  with  complacency  the  overshadowing 
and  even  the  absorption  of  the  old  College  by  the 
University. 

The  University  was  opened  to  students  on  March 
7,  1825.  It  had  therefore  been  in  operation  for  ten 
years  only  when  William  Barton  Rogers  was  called 
to  it  from  the  College  of  William  and  Mary.  Ever 
since  the  Rogers  family  had  been  established  in  Wil- 
liamsburg  in  1819,  they  had  suffered  severely  from 
the  climate.  In  summer  they  had  been  compelled  to 
migrate  northwards,  and  in  winter  they  had  felt  its 
ill  effects.  References  to  the  unwholesomeness  of 
William  sburg  as  a  place  of  residence  abound  in  the 
correspondence  covering  the  entire  period  from  1819 
to  1835,  and  some  citations  have  already  been  made. 
Doubtless  the  vitality  of  all  the  brothers  suffered  from 
this  cause ;  and  to  show  that  they  were  not  peculiar 
in  this  respect,  the  following  from  the  President  of 
William  and  Mary  may  be  quoted :  — 


.  31.]  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  123 


FROM    REV.    ADAM   EMPIE. 

WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE,  April  1,  1836. 
MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  just  distributed  your  sugar 
to  the  children  as  a  means  of  comforting  them,  for 
Adam,  Charles,  Susan  and  Lucy  have  all  had  chills 
this  morning.  The  rest  of  us,  thank  God !  are  well. 
There  seems  no  prospect  of  our  ever  enjoying  health 
in  this  wretched  place,  though  we  were  to  spend  our 
lives  here.  My  own  health  is  not  good ;  I  have  very 
little  appetite,  and  have  had  more  or  less  of  febrile 
symptoms  for  the  last  six  weeks.  .  .  . 

Charlottesville,  on  the  other  hand,  proved  to  be  an 
excellent  and  wholesome  location,  and  Mr.  Rogers's 
health  improved.  Of  his  first  impressions  little  or 
nothing,  unfortunately,  has  been  preserved.  But  with 
the  coming  of  the  spring,  after  his  first  winter  at  the 
University,  he  wrote  to  one  of  the  Empie  children 
a  rhapsody  on  the  season  :  — 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  May  14,  1836. 
DEAR  KATE,  .  .  .  Spring  is  now  exulting  in  the 
hills  and  valleys ;  graceful  and  lovely  is  the  livery  she 
wears.  The  soft  green  of  the  tender  grass  and  grain 
that  overspreads  the  fields  and  meadows ;  the  deeper 
hue  of  the  luxuriant  clover ;  the  rich  coloring  of  the 
verdure  that  spreads  its  ample  folds  even  to  the  sum- 
mits of  the  mountains,  —  are  a  delicious  luxury  to  the 
eyes.  Our  gardens  and  lawn  are  beautiful  beyond 
description.  Just  now  the  early  roses  are  turning 
their  blushing  cheeks  to  the  kisses  of  the  sun,  and  the 
flowering  locusts  stand  around  on  our  lawn  like  bridal 
nymphs  arrayed  in  white  plumes  and  flowing  lace. 
Odours  are  wafted  by  every  breeze,  and  the  songs  of 
the  spring  birds  awaken  many  a  tender  and  many  a 
sad  remembrance.  Surely  this  world  is  beautiful, 
and  God  is  good.  .  .  . 


124    GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF   VIRGINIA.    [1835. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  that  Mr.  Rogers's  de- 
parture from  William  and  Mary  was  deeply  lamented 
by  his  many  friends  in  Williamsburg.  In  this  con- 
nection brief  extracts  of  letters,  the  first  from  his 
friend  and  former  colleague,  Professor  T.  R.  Dew, 
and  the  second  from  Mrs.  Empie,  the  always  devoted 
friend  of  the  brothers,  may  be  quoted :  — 

FROM   PROFESSOR  T.    R.   DEW. 

WILLIAM  AKD  MABY  COLLEGE,  November  2, 1835. 

It  makes  me  sad  indeed  to  take  my  seat  to  write  to 
a  friend  with  whom  I  have  spent  so  many  happy  hours, 
and  laboured  so  many  years  in  our  old  college.  I  miss 
you  exceedingly ;  your  rooms  are  as  yet  closed,  and 
when  I  stroll  up  and  down  the  old  piazza  the  college 
presents  to  me  quite  a  desolate  aspect.  I  am  almost 
tempted  sometimes  to  wish  you  here  again,  in  spite  of 
all  the  advantages  which  I  know  you  will  realize  at 
the  University. 

Our  old  college  has  opened  under  better  auspices 
than  I  anticipated;  the  number  of  matriculates  this 
morning  was  thirty-nine,  and  I  believe  there  are  sev- 
eral more  in  town  to  subscribe.  ...  I  now  really 
think  that  if  we  had  you  with  us  the  college  would 
have  been  thoroughly  resuscitated,  for  the  present  at 
least.  .  .  .  My  dear  fellow,  I  wish  most  cordially  I 
had  you  here  to  accompany  me  in  my  long  and  soli- 
tary rides ;  I  think  in  one  more  year  I  should  become 
quite  a  famous  geologist  without  reading.  ...  I  sup- 
pose by  this  time  you  are  fairly  under  way  at  the 
University.  Have  you  trouble  in  governing  your 
students?  How  often  do  you  meet  in  faculty?  Is 
your  health  good?  .  .  . 


&T.  31.]       DIRECTOR   OF  THE  SURVEY.  125 

FROM   MRS.   EMPIE. 

WILLIAMSBURG,  December  7,  1835. 

.  .  .  Christmas  is  almost  here,  and  your  coming  a 
daily  subject  of  conversation.  The  children  talk  of 
it  with  delight,  and  Lucy  sings  it  over  and  over. 

Old  Mrs.  Peachy  gave  a  splendid  party  (she  says 
to  the  college).  Every  student  was  invited,  and, 
would  you  believe  it,  Mrs.  Sally  P.  danced!  Col. 
Mac.  gave  also  quite  a  grand  entertainment,  at  which 
(report  says)  both  married  and  single  became  gentle- 
manly merry.  Mr.  Bright  had  a  stylish  dining  com- 
pany on  Friday.  .  .  . 

The  Act  of  the  legislature  establishing  the  Geolo- 
gical Survey  of  Virginia  was  passed,  as  already  stated, 
on  March  6,  1835,  and  Professor  Rogers  was  soon 
after  appointed  geologist  in  charge.  Thus  began  a 
public  and  official  service  which  was  continued  by  his 
reappointment  annually  for  the  six  next  succeed- 
ing years.  Thus  also  began  that  investigation  of  the 
geology  of  Virginia  which  was  his  most  extensive  con- 
tribution to  natural  science. 

His  public  plea  for  the  establishment  of  a  survey, 
and  his  appointment  as  its  director,  occurred  while 
Mr.  Rogers  was  still  at  the  College  of  William  and 
Mary,  and  probably  this  was  one  reason  for  his  call 
to  the  University  of  Virginia,  although  he  was  already 
well  known  to  men  of  science.  Joseph  Henry,  then 
Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  in  Princeton  Col- 
lege, and  afterwards  the  eminent  Secretary  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  as  well  as  President  of 
the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  wrote  of  Mr. 
Rogers :  — 


126     GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1835. 


FROM    PROFESSOR   JOSEPH   HENRY. 

NASSAU  HALL,  PRINCETON  COLLEGE,  July  6,  1835. 

Mr.  William  Rogers,  of  Virginia,  is  well  known  as 
an  ardent  and  successful  cultivator  of  science.  I  am 
personally  acquainted  with  him,  and  have  a  very  high 
opinion  of  his  talents  and  acquirements.  He  is  one 
of  those  who,  not  content  with  retailing  the  untested 
opinions  and  discoveries  of  European  philosophers, 
endeavour  to  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  useful  know- 
ledge by  experiments  and  observations  of  his  own. 

Should  Mr.  Rogers's  life  and  health  be  spared,  I  am 
confident  that  he  will  do  much  towards  elevating  the 
scientific  character  of  our  country. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  in  this  connection  that  the 
young  man  of  whom  it  was  thus  predicted  that  he 
would  "  do  much  towards  elevating  the  scientific  char- 
acter of  our  country  "  became  in  after  years  Professor 
Henry's  successor  in  the  presidency  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Sciences.  To  him  also,  in  this  capacity, 
fell  the  honorable  duty  of  pronouncing  the  eulogy  of 
that  Academy  on  Professor  Henry. 

To  his  academic  duties  and  to  the  work  of  the  sur- 
vey Professor  Rogers  faithfully  devoted  the  earlier 
years  of  his  service  at  the  University  of  Virginia. 
The  winter  of  1835-36  was  comparatively  uneventful. 
His  first  Report,  giving  the  results  of  his  reconnais- 
sance of  Virginia  and  accompanied  by  a  colored  pro- 
file section  of  the  State,  cost  him  much  labor,  not 
only  in  the  field  in  the  summer  of  1835,  but  also  at 
his  desk  during  the  following  winter.  In  all  his  work 
at  this  time  he  was  cheered  by  the  ardent  affection, 
sympathy  and  aid  of  his  brother  Henry.  The  latter 
was  living  in  Philadelphia,  and  during  the  winter  was 
engaged  chiefly  upon  his  own  first  Report  of  the  geo- 


2Ex.  31.]     HENRY,  JAMES  AND  ROBERT.  127 

logical  survey  of  New  Jersey.  Robert  was  in  Phila- 
delphia studying  at  the  medical  school  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania.  James,  who  had  now  a  family 
of  small  children,  held  a  Professorship  of  Chemistry 
in  a  medical  school  in  Cincinnati.  Henry  became 
interested  in  a  movement  for  the  establishment  of  a 
geological  survey  of  Pennsylvania,  of  which  he  was 
destined  to  be  the  head.  The  attempt  proved  suc- 
cessful, and  in  1836  he  was  the  director  of  the  geolo- 
gical surveys  of  both  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey. 
He  also  found  time  in  the  same  year  to  assist  William 
to  some  extent  upon  the  survey  of  Virginia. 

Robert,  meantime,  was  drawing  near  to  the  end  of 
his  course  as  a  medical  student.  His  experiences  well 
illustrate  some  of  the  methods  of  medical  education  of 
the  time :  — 

ROBERT   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  October  9,  1835. 

.  .  .  Our  summer  course  has  not  yet  closed ;  it  will 
finish  at  the  end  of  this  month,  when  the  winter  ses- 
sion will  immediately  begin,  and  then  I  shall  be  tied 
indeed,  listening  for  eight  or  nine  hours  daily  to  lec- 
tures, and  catching  what  time  I  can  for  reading  up  on 
them.  .  .  . 

PHILADELPHIA,  December  16, 1835. 

Heartily  do  I  wish  that  the  days  were  longer.  My 
studies  are  crowding  faster  than  ever  upon  me,  and 
my  thesis  is  yet  unfinished,  I  might  almost  say  un- 
begun, for  many  of  the  most  important  experiments 
are  to  be  performed.  This  moment  have  I  been  re- 
leased from  my  last  lecture  (and  it  is  now  past  nine 
o'clock),  chasing  from  room  to  room  since  nine  this 
morning.  And  yet  I  shall  have  to  drop  my  pen  in  a 
few  minutes  to  prepare  for  to-morrow's  lectures.  .  .  . 

Samuel  Haldeman 1  is  in  town,  and  is  quite  full  of 

1  Geologist  and  distinguished  philologist. 


128    GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.     [1835. 

the  geology  of  his  neighbourhood.  He  is  desirous, 
I  believe,  of  making  with  Henry's  assistance  a  geolo- 
gical map  of  that  section  of  the  State. 

In  analyzing  some  of  the  marls  which  Henry  left 
for  Casamajor  and  myself,  we  find  that,  upon  the 
addition  of  ammonia  to  the  digested  marl,  and  sub- 
sequently by  heating,  as  directed  by  the  books,  to 
thorough  dryness,  a  substance  is  sublimed  which  is 
by  no  means  solely  chloride  of  potassium,  but  in  large 
amount  muriate  of  ammonia.  You  had  better  repeat 
this,  and  see  what  suggestions  you  can  make  to  relieve 
us  from  this  difficulty.  We  find  that,  by  continu- 
ing the  heat  to  redness,  we  volatilize  the  ammonia ; 
may  not  some  of  the  chloride  of  potassium  also  be 
driven  off? 

I  wish  you  to  think  of  the  subject  of  my  thesis. 
Can  you  not  devise  some  method  by  which  I  can 
separate  the  colouring  matter  from  the  saline  matter  ? 
for  I  consider  it  a  discovery  that  is  extremely  difficult, 
and  has  never  yet  been  done,  though  generally  con- 
sidered as  effected  by  simple  means,  such  as  press- 
ing the  clot  between  bibulous  papers.  In  this  even 
Berzelius  is  in  error,  and  therefore  I  am  particularly 
desirous  of  a  method  unobjectionable,  as  many  of  the 
experiments  heretofore  performed  have  been  made 
upon  the  presumption  that  it  was  pure  colouring 
matter  employed. 

Dr.  Hare  is  now  upon  pneumatic  chemistry,  and 
my  opportunity  for  experimenting  has  just  arrived ; 
but  my  lectures  engross  all  my  time,  and  it  would 
sometimes  seem  even  more,  for  the  duties  of  several 
hours  are  sometimes  pressed  into  one.  This,  there- 
fore, you  will  not  consider  a  short  letter  for  one  so 
much  a  slave  as  I  am.  .  .  . 

It  was  reported  this  evening  that  New  York  is  still 
on  fire,  and  that  six  hundred  houses  have  been  already 
consumed  on  the  East  River  side. 


.  31.]  MEDICAL  EDUCATION.  129 


March  20,  1836. 

.  .  .  You  will  be  much  pleased  to  learn  that  I  am 
successfully  through  my  examinations,  and  that  I 
have  not  merely  passed,  but  have  acquitted  myself 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Faculty  with  much  credit.  My 
thesis  I  handed  in  but  a  few  days  before  I  appeared 
for  my  examination  ;  it  was  read  by  all,  and  all  com- 
plimented me  highly.  Dr.  Chapman  was  the  first  to 
meet  me  when  I  entered  the  "  green  room."  "  Mr. 
Rogers,"  said  he,  "  we  have  all  read  your  thesis  at- 
tentively and  with  great  pleasure ;  it  does  honour  to 
yourself  and  to  the  University.  You  need  not  be  at 
all  alarmed,  you  are  perfectly  safe."  He  then  asked 
me  one  question,  which  I  answered,  slapped  me  on 
the  back  and  said,  "  You  '11  pass."  Dr.  Hodge  then 
began  a  conversation  about  my  thesis,  and  ended 
with  saying  to  Dr.  Gilman,  "  I  resign  Mr.  R.  to  you, 
sir,  and  if  you  deliver  him  as  well  as  he  can  deliver 
I  shall  be  perfectly  satisfied."  Dr.  Gilman  said  I 
had  got  myself  into  a  difficulty,  for  "  any  one  who 
writes  such  a  thesis  is  pitting  himself  against  the 
Faculty,  and  they  are  sure  to  try  to  stump  him."  But 
instead  of  this  he  asked  me  two  of  the  simplest  ques- 
tions he  could  think  of,  and  turned  to  Dr.  Hare  and 
said,  "  Dr.,  it  is  your  turn."  The  Dr.,  without  lifting 
his  eyes  from  a  newspaper  he  was  reading,  called  out, 
"  I  pass  this  gentleman."  Materia  medica  came  next. 
Dr.  Wood  not  being  present,  Dr.  Chapman  asked  me, 
"  What  is  opium?  "  and  one  or  two  similar  questions. 
Dr.  Homer  treated  me  equally  kindly.  They  then  all 
rose  to  congratulate  me. 

This  morning  was  the  time  I  had  fixed  upon  to 
start  to  join  you,  but  yesterday  I  received  informa- 
tion from  Dr.  Horner  (the  Dean)  that  the  Faculty 
had  passed  a  resolution  to  have  my  thesis  printed, 
and  another  awarding  me  a  medal  to  be  presented 
at  "  Commencement "  (on  next  Saturday  the  26th), 
and  were  therefore  desirous  that  I  should  be  there  to 


130       GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1836. 

receive  it.  A  committee  of  the  Faculty  have  been 
appointed  to  have  it  made.  They  are  not  sure  that 
it  will  be  ready  in  time,  but,  should  it  not,  the  form 
will  still  be  gone  through.  I  have  therefore  to 
postpone  the  time  of  my  departure  till  Monday,  the 
28th.  .  .  . 

The  young  state  geologists  were  hardly  at  the  head 
of  their  respective  surveys  before  a  very  serious  diffi- 
culty arose  in  the  total  lack  of  properly  fitted  assist- 
ants. There  was  no  scarcity  of  young  men  willing  to 
become  salaried  assistants,  but  the  experience  of  the 
brothers  in  Virginia  and  New  Jersey  the  previous 
year  had  shown  that  young  men  competent  to  make 
investigations  in  field  geology  were  extremely  rare. 
As  this  was  a  difficulty  which  promised  to  continue, 
William,  who  was  necessarily  confined  to  his  univer- 
sity duties,  appears  to  have  felt  it  so  keenly  that  he 
even  thought  seriously  of  resigning  his  professorship 
in  order  to  give  all  his  time  to  the  work  of  the  survey. 
Accordingly,  it  was  decided  by  the  brothers  that  Robert 
should  for  the  moment  abandon  the  idea  of  practising 
medicine  and  become  William's  assistant  in  Virginia. 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  10,  1836. 

.  .  .  Our  great  and  pressing  dilemma  is  for  com- 
petent geological  assistants.  The  country  does  not 
afford  them :  they  are  to  be  made  by  us,  and  patience 
is  therefore  indispensable,  for  bear  in  mind  that  under 
no  circumstances  ought  the  State  to  look  to  us  for 
detailed  work;  that  is  to  come  from  the  assistants. 
Be  not  teased  by  what  you  hear,  but  quell  the  impa- 
tience we  have  awakened,  by  pleading  the  importance 
of  maturing  plans  and  getting  duly  organized  with 
fitly  instructed  assistants  ere  we  go  minutely  to  work. 


MT.  31.]  ASSISTANTS.  131 

These  popular  schemes  are  too  apt  to  be  abortions, 
and  better  do  little  than  go  wrong  at  the  start. 

In  regard  to  your  survey,  I  propose  to  join  with 
Robert  and  Maxwell  in  about  twelve  days  at  furthest, 
consult  with  you  and  lead  them  to  the  scene  of  opera- 
tions, and  get  back  towards  the  20th  of  May,  or  sooner 
if  I  can,  with  Maxwell,  who  is  to  be  my  reliance  in 
Pennsylvania  with  J.  Eraser.  Then,  for  a  second  per- 
manent assistant  for  you,  I  am  at  a  loss.  Mr.  Espy, 
who  has  a  strong  leaning  to  geology,  would  spend  his 
vacation  from  the  20th  June  to  September  with  you 
and  try  what  he  can  make  of  it,  so  that,  if  he  should 
find  himself  likely  to  make  a  geologist,  he  would  give 
up  his  school  and  become  your  second  permanent 
assistant.  He  could  not  do  so,  however,  for  less  than 
$1,500  clear  of  travelling  expenses,  but  thinks  we 
might  in  a  year  induce  the  State  to  add  a  small  ap- 
propriation for  Meteorology,  a  thing  really  of  vast 
practical  moment  to  an  agricultural  people,  especially 
as  he  would  do  it  by  teaching  a  better  knowledge  of 
the  climate  and  the  means  of  foreseeing  storms,  etc. 
I  design  to  give  all  my  New  Jersey  appropriation  for 
assistance  in  that  State,  taking  to  my  share  the  labour 
only.  Perhaps  after  a  while  I  may  shuffle  it  off  to 
some  competent  successor,  and  then  if  Robert  wants 
to  resume  medicine  I  could  again  take  his  place. 
Keep  of  good  cheer,  and  in  due  time  we  shall  see  all 
things  go  on  well.  As  to  opposition  and  detraction, 
of  course  I  look  for  this,  but  I  feel  certain  we  shall 
ultimately  prove  ourselves  foremost  in  the  ranks.  I 
am  sending  to  Europe  for  several  important  works, 
and  by  next  winter  we  shall  be  fully  equipped  for 
doing  our  tasks  scientifically.  Heed  not  the  impa- 
tience you  witness ;  it  is  the  inevitable  consequence 
of  our  state  of  society  and  institutions.  It  cannot 
harm  us  if  we  do  not  feel  it.  The  New  York  survey 
is  ruined  by  attending  to  the  popular  impatience. 
General  Dix,  who  drafted  their  plan,  confessed  to  me 
in  a  letter  how  much  the  good  of  the  measure  has 


132       GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.   [1836. 

been  marred  by  it,  and  this  is  the  secret  of  their  great 
appropriation,  $26,000  per  annum.  .  .  . 

Robert  alone  looked  with  some  disfavor  on  this 
plan,  and  especially  as  he  had  just  been  appointed 
physician  to  the  almshouse.  But  he  cheerfully  set 
aside  his  own  preferences  for  the  common  good,  and 
prepared  himself  to  enter  the  service  of  the  Virginia 
survey  under  his  brother  William,  who  cordially  ap- 
proved of  the  plan. 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 
UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  25, 1836. 

...  I  am  now  at  electricity,  and  have  a  good  deal 
to  do  in  the  lecture-room.  Next  week  I  shall  lecture 
at  night  as  well  as  in  the  day,  in  order  to  finish  this 
subject  within  the  week.  I  have  yet  to  treat  of  Gal- 
vanism, Magnetism,  Electro-Magnetism,  Optics  and 
Astronomy,  and  I  shall  be  prodigiously  hurried.  I  am 
in  great  distress  about  my  book  upon  the  Springs. 

I  look  with  great  satisfaction  to  Robert's  aid.  I  am 
sure  that  physical  science  will  open  better  prospects 
for  him  than  medicine.  But  I  can  well  appreciate  the 
reluctance  with  which  he  will  suspend  for  a  time  his 
medical  pursuits.  Should  he  come  on  as  I  expect  in 
May,  I  want  him  to  scour  the  Northern  Neck  for 
marls  and  fossils,  which  he  can  do  before  the  climate 
becomes  unsafe.  .  .  . 

With  the  opening  of  the  season  for  field-work  in 
1836,  William's  assistants  continued  the  work  begun 
during  the  past  year,  the  legislature  having  voted  an 
appropriation.  Owing  to  his  duties  at  the  University 
Professor  Rogers  could  not  join  them  at  the  outset, 
but  that  he  carefully  superintended  and  directed  their 
work  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  one  of  them 
testifies :  — 


.  31.]  FIELD-WORK.  133 


TO   C.    B.    HAYDEN. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  18,  1836. 

.  .  .  You  must  keep  a  keen  lookout  in  the  vicinity 
of  Norfolk,  and  in  extreme  eastern  counties  in  gen- 
eral, for  deposits  newer  than  the  Miocene.  You  and 
Robert  both  fell  upon  strata  seemingly  of  this  char- 
acter at  the  mouth  of  the  Rappahannock.  You  re- 
member the  peculiar  oyster,  of  very  long  figure  and 
thick  hinge,  associated  with  clay  of  a  darker  hue,  and 
in  the  same  neighbourhood  with  the  gypsum.  Look 
out  for  a  recurrence  of  these  things.  .  .  . 

Let  your  notes  always  be  very  ample,  for  it  will  be 
far  easier  to  compress  from  abundant  materials  than  to 
remedy  imperfections  in  detail.  Remember  you  are  to 
draw  up  the  results  of  your  aquatic  tour,  and  with 
such  modifications  as  I  may  see  to  be  useful,  this  will 
be  incorporated  in  my  Report.  Take  the  temperatures 
of  such  springs  and  wells  as  you  meet  with,  noting 
their  probable  depth.  .  .  . 

When  released  from  duty  at  the  close  of  the  session, 
Mr.  Rogers  joined  his  assistants  in  the  field.  Rob- 
ert also  was  by  this  time  engaged  in  field-work  in 
Virginia,  so  that,  with  Henry  at  work  in  New  Jersey 
and  Pennsylvania,  all  three  of  the  brothers  were  thus 
simultaneously  engaged  during  the  summer.  The  fol- 
lowing from  William  to  Henry  gives  some  idea  of  the 
character  of  his  work :  — 

CHRISTIANSBURG,  October  29,  1836. 

MY  DEAR  HENRY,  —  I  reached  this  point  yesterday 
and  have  been  kept  within  doors  by  bad  weather. 
This  morning  we  had  a  fall  of  hail  and  now  it  is  rain- 
ing. To-morrow  (Monday)  morning  I  shall  set  off  for 
some  of  the  coal  seams  in  the  vicinity  of  Blacksburg, 
and  shall  probably  ride  into  the  mountains  near  the 
Botetourt  line.  I  am  on  the  ridge  that  separates  the 


134       GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1836. 

Mississippi  and  Atlantic  navigable  waters.  An  exten- 
sive district  between  this  and  Newbern,  which  is  about 
twelve  miles  a  little  south  of  west,  exhibits  horizontal 
strata  of  limestone,  and  this  circumstance  has  probably 
contributed  to  make  the  impression  that  this  is  con- 
nected with  regions  to  the  west,  in  structure  and  char- 
acter. 

The  sandstones  which  occur  here,  as  a  part  of  the 
series  of  calcareous  rocks,  are  remarkable  for  a  beau- 
tiful pisciform  structure,  like  that  of  the  specimen 
from  Scott  County  which  Wyndham  Robertson  gave 
us  last  winter  in  Richmond. 

I  have  seen  and  examined  the  strange  and  interest- 
ing regions  of  the  lead-salt  and  plaister,  and  have 
taken  some  useful  notes.  I  shall  cross  the  Blue  Ridge 
at  Buford's  Gap  on  my  way  home,  about  the  middle 
of  next  week,  and  I  expect  to  reach  the  University  by 
Saturday. 

I  have  heard  nothing  from  Philadelphia  since  my 
departure  from  the  University,  and  I  have  become 
exceedingly  anxious  and  impatient  to  know  how 
you  and  Robert  are  coming  on.  I  do  not  know  how 
Robert  is  now  employing  himself  in  Philadelphia, 
but  I  suppose  at  analysis. 

I  am  glad  to  be  so  near  the  close  of  my  excursion, 
for,  although  I  have  seen  a  great  deal  to  interest  me, 
my  time  has  been  so  restricted,  and  my  means  of  loco- 
motion often  so  very  indifferent,  that  I  have  sometimes 
grown  quite  impatient,  though  never  weary.  Besides, 
I  have  felt  a  painful  solicitude,  which  I  have  rarely 
experienced  before,  on  account  of  being  cut  off  from 
all  intercourse  with  my  brothers.  I  feel,  too,  that  with- 
out their  companionship  I  am  but  half  myself,  either 
for  labour  or  enjoyment.  When,  my  dear  brother,  can 
we  be  so  circumstanced  as  to  work  and  enjoy  ourselves 
in  concert  ?  This  is  what  I  now  desire  more  than  any- 
thing else. 

Of  James  I  have  not  heard  a  syllable  for  a  long 
time.  I  presume  he  has  written  to  one  or  both  of  you 


JE-r.  32.]  FIELD-WORK.  135 

since  reaching  Cincinnati.  When  you  write,  let  me 
know  all  about  him.  I  am  anxious,  too,  to  hear  from 
our  dear  Uncle.  I  hope  his  health  improves.  Please 
to  remember  me  affectionately  to  him. 

When,  my  dear  Henry,  will  you  join  me  at  the  Uni- 
versity ?  I  shall  be  looking  for  you  in  November.  I 
have  a  great  deal  to  do,  —  my  notes  to  put  in  form,  my 
Report  to  write,  and  my  lectures  to  the  engineering 
class,  in  addition  to  the  others.  But  I  keep  a  stout 
heart  and  work  on,  for  I  think  I  can  do  it  all. 

What  would  I  not  give  to  have  you  here  !  and  I  feel 
this  longing  now,  not  so  much  from  the  want  of  your 
valuable  help  as  from  the  affectionate  concern  for  your 
welfare  and  happiness  which  seems  to  gather  fresh 
strength  as  we  are  more  separated.  I  sometimes,  too, 
feel  a  sort  of  awful  foreboding  that  time  and  distant 
occupations  may  wean  us  from  each  other.  The  tears 
start  and  my  heart  sickens  at  such  a  thought.  God 
grant  that  this  may  never,  never  be.  Life  to  me  would 
be  worthless  without  the  love  and  society  of  my  bro- 
thers. 

Excuse,  my  dear  brother,  these  perhaps  foolish 
thoughts,  and  do  not  suppose  that  I  indulge  them. 
Are  we  not  too  much  to  each  other  for  such  things 
ever  to  be  possible  ?  A  thousand  blessings  upon 
you  both,  my  dear  Henry  and  Robert.  Write  to  me 
often.  I  shall  write  as  soon  as  I  reach  home,  where 
I  expect  to  find  letters  from  you. 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

WILLIAM. 

The  cordial  relations  existing  between  Henry  and 
the  English  geologists  are  illustrated  by  a  letter  from 
John  Phillips,  Esq.,  then  Assistant  General  Secretary 
of  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  who,  writing  under  date  of  September  2, 
1836,  in  his  official  capacity  to  request  Henry  "to 
prepare  a  continuation  of  your  [his]  report  on  the 


136       GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [183<?. 

Geology  of  North  America,  to  be  presented  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Association  at  Liverpool,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1837,"  adds  to  his  official  request  the  follow- 
ing personal  letter : — 

JOHN  PHILLIPS,   ESQ.,   TO   PROFESSOR   HENRY   ROGERS. 
YORK,  September  28,  1836. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND,  —  After  I  wrote  this  official 
circular  last  year,  I  received  your  most  welcome  letter 
containing  the  notice  that  you  would  give  us  at  the 
next  meeting  the  continuation  of  your  report,  and  I  laid 
my  "  form  "  aside  as  needless.  But  since,  a  few  days 
ago,  I  saw  Professor  Bache,  I  have  resolved  to  give 
you  a  few  lines  in  addition  to  this  letter  of  request, 
though  to  say  truth  I  have  been  and  I  am  so  drowned 
in  occupation  that  all  my  correspondence  is  in  danger 
of  utter  ruin  through  the  mere  distraction  of  my 
mind.  First  of  all,  be  assured  that  the  continuation 
of  your  report  is  most  earnestly  desired  by  the  geolo- 
gists of  England,  who  received  the  former  part  with 
great  favour  and  thankfulness  at  Edinburgh.  Mr. 
Lyell  and  Mr.  Murchison,  as  well  as  your  humble 
friend,  explained  the  bearing  of  many  of  the  ques- 
tions discussed,  and  the  whole  meeting  concurred  in 
the  sentiments  of  approbation  with  which  your  labours 
were  mentioned.  Some  person  or  persons  in  America 
sent  over  to  England  a  rather  strange  critique  upon 
what  he  or  they  fancied  to  be  your  report  (the  very 
imperfect  abstract  which  was  put  by  some  person  un- 
known into  "Jameson's  Journal,"  I  believe),  and  this 
paper  I  threw  in  the  fire.  Others  received  this  cri- 
tique as  well  as  myself,  and  treated  it  in  the  same 
manner. 

...  It  would  be  a  fatal  error  if  you  should  sup- 
pose your  reputation  unsafe  in  the  hands  of  the  Eng- 
glish  geologists,  who  are,  it  is  true,  very  ill-informed 
of  the  state  and  progress  of  science  in  America,  but 
who  are,  believe  me,  too  well  instructed  in  the  merits 


JET.  32.]      UNIVERSITY  DISTURBANCES.  137 

of  your  zealous  labours,  not  to  do  you  the  fullest  jus- 
tice. Have  no  doubt  on  this  point,  I  entreat  you, 
but  send  us  the  continuation  of  your  work  for  the 
next  meeting  in  September  in  Liverpool.  ...  By 
the  bye,  I  have  never  yet  obtained  possession  of  the 
Trilobites  you  were  so  good  as  to  say  you  had  sent 
me,  nor  do  I  know  at  all  how  they  came,  nor  to  whom 
addressed.  Perhaps  you  had  intended  them  for  the 
Geological  Society,  as  the  specimen  you  last  sent, 
which  I  confess  I  do  not  understand,  nor  have  I  any- 
thing very  like  it.  My  last  volume  on  Yorkshire 
geology  contains  420  species  of  organic  remains  from 
mountain  Limestone  alone,  and  of  them  320  are  new ! 

The  return  of  the  autumn  found  Professor  Rogers 
again  at  his  post  at  the  University.  But  evidence 
abounds  in  the  letters  of  this  period,  and  those  im- 
mediately following,  that  his  position  was  in  many 
respects  difficult.  His  double  service  (to  the  State 
and  to  the  University)  and  his  frequent  enforced 
absence  appear  to  have  excited  the  envy  of  some  of 
his  colleagues,  while  his  outspoken  disapproval  of  the 
behavior  of  the  student-body  served  to  make  him  for 
a  time  an  object  of  dislike  to  the  unruly.  The  situ- 
ation, therefore,  became  irksome,  especially  after  cer- 
tain disturbances  which  now  interfered  with  the  quiet 
of  the  academic  life. 

On  November  12,  1836,  a  serious  infringement 
of  the  rules  of  the  University  took  place,  and  led  to 
the  summary  dismissal  of  seventy  students.  "The 
grounds  of  the  sentence  of  dismission  set  forth  in  the 
sentence  were,  that  the  students  included  in  it  had 
introduced  firearms  within  the  precincts,  without  law- 
ful authority,  and  avowed  their  determination  to  keep 
them  in  their  possession,  notwithstanding  the  enact- 
ments of  the  institution  and  the  express  prohibition 


138    GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1836. 

of  the  Faculty ;  and  that  these  offences  were  greatly 
aggravated  by  the  circumstance  that  they  were  the  re- 
sult of  an  illegal  combination  between  those  students."  1 
It  was  one  of  the  rules  governing  the  University 
that  "No  student  shall,  within  the  precincts  of  the 
University,  introduce,  keep  or  use  weapons  or  arms 
of  any  kind,  or  gunpowder."  2 

"  A  voluntary  association  of  students,  styling  them- 
selves the  '  University  Volunteers,'  had  organized  and 
brought  arms  within  the  precincts,  apparently  without 
being  *  aware  that  to  do  so  it  was  necessary  to  obtain 
the  leave  of  the  Faculty.'  Application  being  made  to 
the  Faculty,  leave  was  granted  on  certain  stipulated 
conditions  essentially  similar  to  conditions  attached 
to  similar  leave  in  former  years.  One  of  the  (seven) 
stipulated  conditions  reserved  to  the  Faculty  the  right 
to  dissolve  the  corps  for  violation  of  the  prescribed 
conditions  or  '  whenever  the  interests  of  the  Univer- 
sity shall  in  their  opinion  require  it.'  .  .  . 

"  These  conditions,  on  being  communicated  to  the 
company,  were  not  acceded  to.  ...  On  the  contrary 
they  resolved  '  to  resist  the  authority  of  the  Faculty.' 
.  .  .  And  the  second  night  after  the  refusal  of  the 
company  to  accede  to  the  conditions  prescribed,  dis- 
turbances commenced  by  the  frequent  firing  of  a 
musket  or  muskets  on  the  lawn  and  elsewhere  in  the 
University,  which  was  continued  on  the  following 
night.  .  .  . 

"  And  on  the  night  of  the  meeting  of  the  company, 
at  which  their  resolutions  of  combination  and  defiance 
were  adopted,  the  breaking  up  of  the  meeting  was 
immediately  followed  by  an  outrageous  riot,  during 

1  An  Exposition  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Faculty  of  the  University 
of  Virginia  in  Relation  to  the  Recent  Disturbances  at  that  Institution, 
December  16,  1836. 

2  Chapter  iii.  3,  Enactments  relating  to  the  Constitution  and  Govern- 
ment of  the  University  of  Virginia,  1831. 


^T.  32.]  A   STUDENTS'  RIOT.  139 

which  there  was  a  continual  roar  of  musketry  on  the 
lawn  and  in  other  parts  of  the  University  for  an  hour 
or  more,  apparently  intended  to  celebrate  the  triumph 
supposed  to  have  been  already  achieved  by  the  combi- 
nation, or  to  intimidate  the  Faculty  into  submission. 
And  subsequently  their  determination  to  carry  their 
resistance  into  effect  was  marked  by  every  circum- 
stance which  could  indicate  deliberation  and  contempt 
of  the  authority  of  the  Faculty.1 

"On  the  sentence  being  made  known,  about  four 
o'clock  on  Saturday,  a  scene  of  unparalleled  disorder 
and  violence  was  immediately  commenced,  which  with 
little  intermission  was  continued  until  late  on  Sunday 
night.  The  acts  committed  during  the  nights  of  its 
continuance,  particularly  the  second,  were  altogether 
different  in  their  character  from  those  which  have 
usually  distinguished  college  riots,  —  they  were  the 
outrages  of  an  infuriated  mob.  Our  houses  were 
attacked,  the  doors  forced,  and  the  blinds  and  win- 
dows broken.  And  there  is  reason  to  believe  that, 
not  content  with  this,  they  contemplated  proceeding 
to  the  desperate  extremity  of  entering  our  houses  for 
the  purpose  of  attempting  personal  violence."  2 

The  dismissal  of  seventy  students,  which  followed, 
naturally  created  a  profound  sensation  and  aroused 
much  criticism,  but  after  order  had  been  restored  the 
Faculty  resolved  to  allow  "to  reenter  those  of  the 
dismissed  students  who  should  make  application  for 
readmission,  on  their  disclaiming  participation  in  the 
principal  acts  of  riot  and  violence  which  had  been 
committed,  or,  if  they  could  not  do  so,  on  their  mak- 
ing proper  atonement  therefor." 

The  whole  matter  led  to  the  lengthy  statement,  or 
"  Exposition,"  from  which  the  foregoing  extracts  have 
been  made,  prepared  by  Professor  J.  A.  G.  Davis, 
1  Exposition,  etc.,  pp.  11, 12.  2  Exposition,  etc. 


140    GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1836. 

then  Chairman  of  the  Faculty  and  Professor  of  Law. 
The  "Exposition"  is  dated  December  16,  1836. 
Among  Mr.  Rogers's  papers  is  a  draft  of  a  letter 
addressed  to  J.  H.  Pleasants,  Esq.,  editor  of  the 
"  Whig,"  Richmond. 

TO  J.   H.    PLEASANTS. 

UNIVERSITY  OP  VIRGINIA,  December  20,  1836. 

I  send  you  by  mail  a  copy  of  the  "  Exposition  "  of 
the  Faculty  of  the  recent  disturbances  here,  and  of  the 
course  which  they  pursued  in  relation  to  those  stu- 
dents who  were  involved  in  them.  This  paper,  very 
clearly  drawn  up  by  the  chairman,  sets  in  a  just  and 
proper  light  all  the  incidents  which  occurred,  the 
measures  adopted  by  the  students  and  by  the  Faculty, 
and  the  laws  upon  which  the  measures  of  the  latter 
were  founded,  and  by  which,  as  I  think,  they  were  not 
only  fully  justified,  but  rendered  absolutely  impera- 
tive. Perhaps  no  necessity  for  such  a  detailed  expo- 
sition existed,  but  as  from  more  than  one  quarter 
sentiments  of  approbation  of  the  conduct  of  the  stu- 
dents have  been  heard,  and  as  it  appeared  obvious  to 
us  that  these  expressions  of  approval  were  founded  on 
imperfect  or  mistaken  knowledge  of  the  facts  and  law 
of  the  case,  it  was  thought  that  a  more  detailed  view 
of  the  matter  than  had  yet  appeared  was,  to  say  the 
least,  expedient. 

I  am  fully  aware  of  how  much  your  time  must  be 
occupied  with  public  matters.  Yet  I  take  the  liberty 
of  requesting  you  to  read  the  "  Exposition  "  herewith 
sent,  and,  without  desiring  you  to  give  it  a  place  in 
the  "  Whig,"  which  I  know  would  be  inconvenient  if 
not  impracticable,  I  would  ask  you,  in  case  you  find 
the  opinion  you  formerly  expressed  to  be  no  longer 
tenable,  to  make  a  remark  to  that  effect,  whenever 
convenient,  in  the  "  Whig." 

There  are  many  students  with  whom  your  former 
notice  possessed  much  weight,  and  some  of  them  have 


J£T.  32.]  A  STUDENTS'  RIOT.  141 

probably  been  delayed  in  reentering  the  University 
by  the  confirmation  thus  given  to  their  views  by  so 
high  an  authority.  Without  in  the  smallest  degree 
intending  to  sway  your  opinions,  I  would  remark  that, 
in  case  you  agree  with  us  in  the  justice  and  propriety 
of  the  course  we  pursued,  —  and  of  this  accordance  I 
feel  almost  certain,  —  an  intimation  to  this  effect  would 
probably  decide  the  course  of  several  who  from  mis- 
taken pride  are  now  holding  off,  though  extremely 
desirous  of  resuming  their  studies  in  the  University. 
About  forty  of  the  dismissed  students  have  returned 
to  their  studies  under  the  resolution  of  the  Faculty 
by  which  they  are  conditionally  admitted.  Others 
will  no  doubt  follow  their  example,  and  it  is  therefore 
desirable  for  their  sakes,  as  well  as  that  of  the  insti- 
tution, that  an  erroneous  view  of  the  laws  and  of  the 
recent  action  of  the  Faculty  should  not  be  counte- 
nanced by  those  in  whose  opinions  they  confide,  so  as 
to  become  an  obstacle  to  their  return. 

Only  four  years  later,  Professor  Davis  himself 
was  shot  down  before  his  own  door  and  killed  by  a 
student  celebrating  the  anniversary  of  this  riot  of 
1836. 

The  survey  of  Virginia  was  continued  in  1837,  and, 
Henry  having  resigned  his  connection  with  it,  James 
(who  was  still  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  a  Cincinnati 
medical  college)  was  appointed  to  become  one  of  Wil- 
liam's chief  assistants. 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  30,  1837. 
...  I  have  written  at  great  length  to  the  Board  of 
Public  Works  asking  their  approbation  of  the  ap- 
pointment of  Aiken  and  Hayden,  formally  announcing 
your  resignation,  and  recommending  James  for  the 
place.  I  have  also  given  a  detailed  view  of  the  pro- 


142     GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1837. 

posed  organization  and  plan  of  operations  for  the 
season,  with  which,  I  have  no  doubt,  they  will  be 
greatly  pleased ;  and  in  addition  to  all  this,  I  have 
given  a  schedule  of  the  expenses  which  will  be  in- 
curred, as  far  as  I  can  make  them  out,  and  accom- 
panied with  such  of  the  particulars  connected  with  the 
prospects  of  the  work  as  I  thought  would  make  them 
fully  acquainted  with  our  views,  and  add  to  the  inter- 
est they  already  feel  in  the  prosecution. 

I  look  forward  with  cheering  confidence  to  the 
progress  of  the  work,  whatever  may  be  the  difficul- 
ties which  from  time  to  time  we  may  have  to  encounter. 
But  I  need  not  say,  my  dear  Henry,  how  much  of  this 
confidence  would  be  withdrawn,  did  I  not  feel  that  in 
your  wider  experience  and  clearer  science,  I  shall 
still  possess  a  resource  in  cases  of  embarrassment. 
When  you  first  announced  your  intention  to  resign, 
the  pain  I  felt  was  much  greater  than  you  probably 
imagined ;  but  in  the  kind  and  generous  tender  of  as- 
sistance with  which  you  accompanied  your  resignation, 
I  felt  my  confidence  renewed.  How,  my  dear  brother, 
can  I  sufficiently  express  my  sense  of  the  affectionate 
concern  you  manifest  in  whatever  is  interesting  to 
my  health,  happiness  or  reputation  ?  When  I  think 
of  the  enduring  strength  of  the  fraternal  ties  which 
unite  us  in  mind  and  sympathy,  how  ardently  do  I 
long  for  the  arrival  of  the  time,  which  I  cannot  but 
think  will  come,  when  we  shall  all  be  together,  as  in 
childhood,  in  the  same  house,  and  prosecute  our  re- 
searches in  a  happy  concert  of  activity ! 

Since  you  left  I  have  regularly  taken  a  ride  of 
five  or  six  miles  before  breakfast,  and  have  been  so 
much  refreshed  by  the  exercise  that  I  intend  keeping 
it  up.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  May  9,  1837. 

...  I  paid  two  visits,  of  two  days  each,  to  the  Blue 
Ridge  since  you  left,  and  have  explored  very  closely 
in  the  caves  near  Rockfish  and  Turk's  Gap.  I  have 
seen  the  fucoidal  sandstone  in  large  beds  upon  the 


2ET.  32.]  THE  PANIC   OF  1837.  143 

west  side  of  the  Ridge,  gently  sloping  to  the  west  and 
lying  upon  the  rocks  of  the  Ridge.  I  brought  home 
from  Turk's  Gap  more  than  a  dozen  fragments  of 
the  sandstone  with  impressions.  The  stones  are  all 
straight  and  parallel.  I  was  amazed  upon  this  visit 
at  seeing  how  much  I  had  previously  been  deceived 
by  the  cross  joints  of  this  rock,  giving  it  an  almost 
vertical  and  slightly  eastern  dip ;  but  I  caught  the 
beds  in  large  mass  very  gently  sloping  to  the  west. 
On  Saturday  (to-morrow)  I  go  again  to  Turk's.  .  .  . 
What  a  disastrous  train  of  difficulties  have  come 
upon  the  country  !  I  greatly  fear  that  our  institutions 
of  learning  will  feel  a  share  of  the  pressure  next 
season.  The  Governor  has  convoked  the  legislature 
on  the  12th  of  June,  but  what  they  can  do  I  cannot 
imagine.  .  .  . 

The  last  few  lines  refer  to  the  financial  panic  of  1837. 

FROM  HIS  BROTHER  HENRY. 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  20,  1837. 

...  I  found  matters  in  the  money  world  in  a  sad 
condition  on  my  return  here.  How  I  wish  you  had 
some  time  ago  transferred  all  the  spare  funds  you  can 
command  to  this  place,  as  for  some  time  to  come  it  will 
not  be  at  all  easy  for  me  to  bring  on  Virginia  paper 
without  a  loss  !  .  .  . 

PHILADELPHIA,  June  14, 1837. 

.  .  .  Uncle  is  mending  in  strength,  I  think,  daily. 
But  pecuniary  matters  weigh  on  him  to  the  detriment 
of  his  health.  The  fact  is,  he  indiscreetly  embarrassed 
himself  by  going  too  far  into  the  stocks,  and  has  been 
obliged  to  sacrifice  a  little,  and  fears  he  shall  have  to  sac- 
rifice more.  Had  he  only  some  ready  means  now  in  his 
hands  all  would  be  right  for  the  future,  I  believe.  I 
found  him  this  morning  nervous  on  the  subject  of  his 
commercial  credit,  which  has  always  stood  without  a 
tarnish.  .  .  .  He  enjoined  me  not  to  desire  you  to  lend 
him  anything,  for  he  says  he  has  no  right  that  any 


144     GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.     [1837. 

should  be  without  the  use  of  their  money  but  himself, 
who  has  played  the  fool.  Still,  I  know  that  if  you 
could  bring  on  one  (or,  better,  two)  thousand,  he  would 
secure  you  in  sound  stocks,  for  which  you  could  afford 
to  wait  a  year  or  two,  while  you  will  lift  a  weighty 
load  from  his  spirits.  Indeed,  I  fear  he  has  nearly 
abandoned  the  idea  of  going  to  Europe,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  apprehension  of  not  having  available 
funds  without  a  present  heavy  sacrifice.  He  knows 
your  generosity,  and  he  bade  me  therefore  be  silent 
on  the  subject  of  his  money  troubles.  Don't  let  him 
know  I  have  mentioned  them.  .  .  . 

Never  did  I  want  your  succour  and  counsel  more 
than  at  the  present  time.  I  stand  in  a  truly  trying 
situation.  You  shall  hear. 

The  Government  Engineer  of  the  Delaware  Break- 
water some  time  ago  objected  to  the  Gneiss  rock  of 

Chester  quarries,  owned  by  the  L s,  connections  of 

Dr.  P ,  and   preferred  the  unstratified  trappean 

rocks  of  quarries  near  Wilmington.  The  Secretary  of 
War  requested  the  Committee  on  Science  and  Arts 
of  the  Franklin  Institute  to  give  their  opinion  on  the 

comparative   fitness   of   the  two  rocks.     P ,  the 

chairman  of  the  committee,  placed  me  on  the  sub- 
committee of  ten,  eight  of  whom  were  escorted,  at  the 
expense  of  government,  to  all  the  quarries  and  to  the 
breakwater.  This  sub-committee  was  nearly  filled 
by  P 's  personal  friends.  A  partial,  one-sided  re- 
port was  framed ;  at  this  juncture  I  came  in  from  the 
country.  Much  regret  was  expressed  that  I  had  not 
given  them  my  aid  as  geologist.  I  was  even  told  I 
had  neglected  a  public  duty. 

The  chairman  of  the  sub-committee,  James  W , 

required  me  to  aid  him  by  my  geological  knowledge, 
calling  on  me  in  public  meeting  of  the  big  committee 
to  describe  the  rocks  by  their  right  names.  I  said  I 
would  not  even  name  them  until  I  could  go  down  to 
the  quarries,  for  I  knew  the  bearings  of  names.  Thus 
drawn  in,  I  required  him  to  pilot  me  over  the  ground, 


JET.  32.]        A   HEAVY  RESPONSIBILITY.  145 

and  I  went  to  the  quarries.  My  convictions  went  con- 
trary to  the  majority  of  the  sub-committee  in  their 
report,  for  I  preferred  the  trappean  rocks.  I  also  con- 
vinced Mr.  W ,  against  his  will,  and  brought  over 

to  my  views  a  majority  of  the  sub-committee.  I  was 
then  called  upon  by  him  and  the  rest  to  draw  up  a 
report  for  him,  which  I  did,  embodying  the  views 

expressed  in  the  sub-committee.     Meanwhile  W , 

having  thus  shuffled  off  the  responsibility  of  the  report 
on  me,  hangs  fire,  no  doubt  from  the  influence  of 

P ,  and  slinks  behind  my  back.     After  numerous 

long  sessions  (some  of  them  five  hours !)  in  sub-com- 
mittee, we  took  into  general  committee  three  several 
reports,  one  being  mine,  the  official  one  being  only  a 
set  of  meagre  resolutions,  signed  by  five  out  of  ten, 

and  not  by  W ,  who  was  for  pure  neutrality.    For 

three  sessions  of  the  general  committee  I  had  to  de- 
fend my  report  and  views  against  all  P 's  influ- 
ence, which  is  mighty,  but  I  foiled  him  by  a  vote  of 
eighteen  to  fourteen.  Though  fairly  out-voted,  he  has 
to-day  called  the  general  committee  together  for  to- 
morrow night,  in  hopes  of  having  the  vote  reconsid- 
ered, and  I  am  compelled,  after  losing  a  whole  week 
already,  to  remain  in  town  and  renew  the  fight.  The 
stake  is  a  very  heavy  one,  —  some  hundred  thousand 
dollars ;  my  responsibility  is,  therefore,  very  painful. 
Thus  far  I  have  stood  my  ground  against  every  sort 
of  unfairness,  attack  and  ridicule,  having  succeeded 
in  carrying  with  me  nearly  all  the  true  friends  of  the 
Institute.  He  has  packed  the  committee,  bringing 

against  me  such  men  as  Dr.  M ,  whose  chemistry 

I  very  soon  dissolved.  I  am  proud  to  say  that,  by 
abstaining  on  my  part  from  all  personality  and  keep- 
ing cool,  I  have  won  the  confidence  of  the  leading 

men  of  the  institution,  while  he  (Dr.  P )  has  made 

sad  work  with  his  reputation.  I  know  I  shall  have 
his  enmity  and  that  of  his  adherents,  but  I  know  also 
my  strength,  and  therefore  I  do  not  fear.  .  .  . 


146     GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1837. 

Robert  was  not  in  the  field  in  1837,  but  was  engaged 
as  an  analyst  in  Philadelphia,  and  afterwards  in  the 
University  of  Virginia. 

EGBERT   TO   HENRY. 

PHILADELPHIA,  July  24,  1837. 

Yesterday  afternoon  Dr.  Caldwell,  of  the  West, 
called  upon  me,  asked  my  age,  my  occupation,  and 
if  I  had  ever  lectured,  and  then  made  me  the  offer 
of  the  Chair  of  Chemistry  in  the  Medical  School  of 
Louisville.  From  his  representation  and  that  of  per- 
sons I  have  since  seen,  there  seems  little  doubt  that 
the  Louisville  school  will  far  take  the  lead  of  that  at 
Lexington.  One  great  advantage  which  the  former 
will  have  is  that  it  will  be  located  in  a  large  town  (of 
30,000  inhabitants)  with  ample  facilities  for  anatomi- 
cal instruction  and  an  extensive  hospital.  The  peo- 
ple of  Louisville  have  presented  the  Faculty  with 
$100,000  and  land  to  erect  a  building  upon.  Dr. 
Caldwell  seems  perfectly  sanguine  of  its  success.  The 
class  at  Lexington  last  winter  was  two  hundred  and 
fifty.  ( 

I  did  not,  however,  make  him  a  certain  answer, 
though  I  had  little  expectation  of  accepting,  and  know- 
ing pretty  well  what  would  be  the  wishes  of  yourself, 
William  and  Uncle.  I  told  him  I  would  consult  you 
forthwith,  and  when  I  heard  from  you,  would  give 
him  a  definite  answer.  Please,  therefore,  give  me 
your  views.  The  offer  is  a  compliment  to  me,  if 
nothing  else.  .  .  . 

Bishop  can  make  for  me  a  battery  (in  a  few  weeks) 
of  8,000  pairs,  with  all  the  arrangements  very  com- 
plete and  on  an  improved  plan,  for  eighty  dollars. 
Though  this  seems  a  good  deal,  yet  it  is  very  cheap, 
and  I  want  such  a  battery  very  much.  What  say 
you  ?  Shall  I  have  it  made  ?  Will  you  and  William 
not  divide  with  me  the  expense  ?  At  any  rate,  had 
I  not  better  order  it  ?  I  think  I  shall  be  repaid  by 
the  discoveries  I  hope  to  make. 


MT.  32.]         A  PROFESSORSHIP   OFFERED.  147 

Do  not  forget  to  answer  me  upon  these  two  points 
at  once,  —  the  school  and  the  battery.  .  .  . 

PHILADELPHIA,  August  28, 1837. 

...  I  look  forward  with  great  pleasure  to  my  work, 
and  hope  to  get  through  with  a  great  deal  of  valuable 
analysis  in  the  ensuing  season. 

There  are  a  great  many  matters  of  research,  espe- 
cially in  galvanism  and  electro-magnetism,  I  am  anx- 
ious to  pursue.  The  journals  are  teeming  with  arti- 
cles on  these  subjects  of  the  deepest  interest.  I  can 
scarcely  pick  up  one  of  them  without  running  half 
frantic.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  September  20, 1837. 

...  I  learned  shortly  before  I  left  that  the  en- 
gineers, to  whom  was  entrusted  the  breakwater  ques- 
tion, had  decided  and  reported  in  favour  of  the 

L 's  rocks.  Dr.  Emerson  told  me,  however,  that 

this  decision  is  not  at  all  a  reversion  of  your  report, 
but  that  the  question  put  to  them  was  quite  a  different 
one  from  that  which  the  Institute  had.  It  was  not 
which  was  the  most  suitable  rock  for  the  breakwater 

purpose,  but  "  Was  the  L 's  rock,  at  its  price,  a 

suitable  material?"  No  comparison  of  the  values  of 
the  two  rocks  for  the  purpose  was  asked.  You  will 
not,  therefore,  feel  mortified  at  the  result,  as  you 
would  otherwise  have  been.  It  is  a  great  shame  that 

W and  others  who  have  acted  so  meanly  in  this 

matter  should  reap  the  benefit  of  their  conduct,  while 
others  who  would  have  gladly  avoided  the  discus- 
sion should  be  made  the  sufferers;  but  I  trust  it 
will  all  speak  for  itself,  and  things  turn  out  as  they 
should. 

William  has  a  class  of  seventy,  —  very  promising 
indeed  for  the  time,  and  quite  as  large  as  at  this  time 
last  year.  .  .  . 


148    GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1837. 


WILLIAM   TO   HEXRY. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  September  27,  1837. 

.  .  .  The  joint  examination  along  the  Potomac  is 
the  thing  that  I  most  of  all  desire.  It  is  the  only 
plan  by  which  we  can  finally  dispose  of  the  difficult 
question  of  the  age  of  our  valley  coal  in  comparison 
with  yours. 

The  southwestern  counties  present  a  strange  state 
of  things.  I  am  at  a  loss  to  imagine  what  Troost l 
is  making  of  the  same  formations  in  Tennessee.  There 
is  really  an  alternation  of  Limestones,  Slates  and 
Sandstones  dipping  east  nearly  from  the  Great  Flat 
Top  to  the  Blue  Ridge !  I  expect  to  derive  valuable 
lights  from  even  a  brief  inspection  of  your  formations. 
We  have  truly  a  sublime  work  in  our  hands,  and  I 
cannot  but  think  that  we  shall  bring  it  to  a  successful 
termination,  if  only  time  enough  be  allowed  to  make 
our  labour  as  minute  and  extensive  as  is  necessary. 
I  have  the  "  Geological  Transactions,"  and  the  "  Sci- 
entific Memoirs  "  which  were  ordered  for  the  Univer- 
sity Library  at  my  instance.  The  "  Transactions  " 
contain  all  the  admirable  papers  of  Sedgwick,  Murchi- 
son  and  Fitton  of  late  published.  I  am  feasting  upon 
these  matters. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  December  4,  1837. 

.  .  .  Tell  Robert  that  the  method  of  analyzing  iron 
ores,  which  I  described  to  him,  appears  thus  far  to 
succeed.  By  avoiding  much  excess  of  the  acetate  of 
potash,  and  by  boiling  the  mixture  for  some  time,  the 
liquid  passes  through  the  filter  as  clear  as  distilled 
water,  and  will  scarcely  indicate  the  presence  of  iron 
by  the  addition  of  ferro-prussiate.  From  this  liquid 
the  Manganese  and  Alumina  may  be  readily  separated. 

I  from  time  to  time  enjoy  a  great  treat  in  reading 
some  of  the  late  valuable  papers  in  the  "  Geological 
Transactions." 

i  State  Geologist  for  Tennessee. 


33T.33.]  DAUBENY.  149 

In  one  of  Sedgwick's  I  have  lately  read  on  the 
Magnesian  Limestone,  I  find  some  interesting  views 
in  regard  to  concretionary  structure.  How  admirable 
those  papers  are  in  all  respects ! 

What  lights  do  the  geologists  of  New  York  seem 
to  have  attained !  If  you  can  spare  time,  my  dear 
Henry,  write  me  particulars.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  Oh,  how  I  long  to  be  in  Philadelphia !  Soli- 
tude is,  after  all,  no  friend  to  Science.  My  chief 
stimulus  of  a  truly  exciting  kind  is  received  from  your 
letters,  and  sometimes,  as  for  instance  to-day,  they 
impart  new  life  to  me,  and  really  make  me  happy  in 
scientific  ardour  and  hope.  You  must  therefore,  my 
dear  Henry,  write  to  me  as  frequently  as  possible. 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  December  11,  1837. 

.  .  .  Dr.  Daubeny  1  is  in  Philadelphia,  and  means 
to  be  here  two  or  three  weeks.  I  have  met  him,  and 
exchanged  pretty  long  conversations  with  him.  This 
morning  he  called  to  give  me  a  copy  for  you  of  his 
"  Report  on  the  Present  State  of  our  Knowledge  of 
Mineral  and  Thermal  Waters,"  read  last  year  at  the 
British  Association,  and  now  in  print  in  the  last 
volume,  which  we  have  not  yet  received.  He  told  me 
as  soon  as  I  had  read  it  to  send  it  on  to  you ;  this  was 
in  consequence  of  mv  telling  him  of  your  forthcoming 
work  on  the  Mineral  Waters  of  Virginia.  He  wishes 
to  see  you,  and  I  offered  him  a  letter  to  you.  At 
first  his  plan  was  to  take  the  University  in  his  way 
going  South ;  but  as  the  thermal  springs  of  Virginia, 
which  he  means  to  see  if  possible,  are  not  easy  to 
reach  in  winter,  he  has  taken  my  suggestion  to  go  by 
Norfolk  and  Charleston  and  New  Orleans,  thence 
to  the  thermal  waters  of  Washita  if  possible,  and 
to  come  back  here  by  Cincinnati,  Guyandotte,  the 
springs  in  Virginia  and  your  University.  He  is  likely, 
1  Charles  G.  B.  Daubeny,  M.  D.,  F.  K.  S.,  English  geologist  and 
chemist. 


150     GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1837 

therefore,  to  visit  you  about  the  early  part  of  April, 
as  he  intends  to  sail  for  England  on  the  first  of 
May.  .  .  . 

He  has  already  told  me  that  he  agrees  with  me  in 
the  propriety  of  rejecting  the  European  names  of 
strata,  and  says  that  we  shall  have  Greenough  with 
us  also.  In  Whewell's  work  on  the  Inductive  Sciences, 
many  sound  and  broad  views  are  set  forth  in  agree- 
ment with  our  own,  so  that  we  are  in  the  right  road. 

WILLIAM   TO    HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  December  18,  1837. 

.  .  .  You  ask  for  my  method  of  examining  the 
Virginia  anthracites.  I  follow  the  same  steps  as  with 
the  bituminous  coal.  Our  anthracites  all  contain 
some  volatile  matter,  partly  aqueous  and  partly  bitu- 
minous. This  is  estimated  in  the  gross  by  the  loss  of 
weight  by  heating  in  the  perforated  crucible.  .  .  . 

Bravo  !  your  letter  of  the  llth  has  just  come.  You 
are  well,  at  least  so  I  infer  from  your  silence  on  the 
subject. 

I  shall  start  some  more  analyses  of  coals  and  sev- 
eral lignites  I  have. 

I  congratulate  Robert  and  you  on  the  possession  of 
a  snug  laboratory.  I  feel,  had  I  been  provided  for 
some  time  past  as  I  now  am,  I  should  have  done  a 
great  deal  more,  and  more  accurately.  Where  can  I 
procure  Whewell's  work  to  which  you  refer  ?  .  .  . 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  December  18,  1837. 

...  I  see  Dr.  Daubeny  frequently.  Saturday  even- 
ing I  passed  at  Clem :  Biddle's  with  a  small  party  of 
gentlemen  in  his  company  ;  to-night  I  am  invited  by 
Isaac  Lea  to  meet  him  at  his  house.  I  am  getting  my 
specimens  in  a  condition  of  arrangement  to  show 
Daubeny,  wishing  to  let  him  see  what  we  have  been 
doing.  By  the  spring  we  shall  all  be  able  to  let  him 
see  more ;  your  sections  and  mine  will  then,  I  hope,  be 


;ET.  33.]  GIRARD  COLLEGE.  151 

all  drawn.     He  is  very  amiable,  and  I  am  sure  you 
will  like  him  for  absence  of  all  pretence.  .  .  . 

WILLIAM   TO   ROBERT. 
UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  January  3, 1838. 

One  of  my  buggy  horses  (not  Billy)  was  taken  sick 
yesterday  morning,  though  apparently  quite  well  be- 
fore, and  about  tea-time  died  in  a  sudden  spasm.  .  .  . 

I  do  not  know  when  I  felt  more  sad  than  upon 
Levi's  coming  into  the  laboratory,  and  in  a  mournful 
and  scarcely  articulate  voice  telling  me,  "  Jimmy  is 
dead."  He  was  an  excellent  draught-horse,  and  not 
bad  under  the  saddle.  Young,  well-proportioned  and 
of  excellent  temper.  Poor  fellow !  how  many  a  hard 
pull  has  he  made  for  us  up  the  steep  mountains  in 
Hampshire  and  Hardy  during  the  summer  and  fall !  I 
could  really  weep  over  his  loss.  .  .  . 

You  cannot  imagine  how  much  pleasure  I  have  re- 
ceived from  Henry's  and  your  late  letters,  in  which  you 
speak  of  scientific  matters,  and  mention  the  conversa- 
tions with  Daubeny,  and  the  favourable  impression 
made  upon  him.  I  have  never  before  felt  so  strongly 
desirous  of  being  with  you  in  Philadelphia  as  of  late. 

By  the  bye,  I  shall  require  to  renew  the  pot  of  my 
blast  furnace  ere  long.  The  anthracite  is  actually 
melting  it  down.  Such  a  heat !  Why,  when  the  door 
is  opened,  it  dazzles  like  the  interior  of  a  glass  or  iron 
furnace.  .  .  . 

HENRY  TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  February  10, 1838. 

.  .  .  Robert  informed  me  a  few  days  since  of 
brighter  prospects  for  Bache.  That  the  preliminary 
school  of  Girard  College  will  be  commenced,  there  is 
not  much  doubt,  though  the  council  is  disposed  to 
hang  back  as  far  as  it  dare.  Bache  is  not  without  his 
troubles,  but  he  will  ultimately  succeed,  and  with  glo- 
rious results,  for  his  mind  contemplates  a  noble  and 
very  wise  system  for  the  instruction  of  the  orphans. 


152       GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1838. 

The  Virginia  survey  had  now  been  going  on  com- 
paratively smoothly  for  nearly  three  years.  In  1838, 
however,  opposition  began  to  develop  in  the  legisla- 
ture, and  Professor  Eogers  henceforward  experienced 
the  difficulties  which  beset  many  scientific  enterprises 
dependent  on  state  appropriations. 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIKGINIA,  March  8, 1838. 
When  I  wrote  you  two  days  ago,  I  was  in  high 
spirits  in  relation  to  my  various  tasks,  for  I  had  just 
heard  from  Mr.  Brown  that  the  printing  of  my  report 
in  8vo  form  had  been  determined  on,  and  was  about 
to  be  commenced  by  Sheppard.  But  I  fear  there  is 
trouble  in  store  for  me.  By  yesterday's  papers  I  see 
that  some  resolutions  offered  by  Mr.  Harmon,  to  aid 
the  circulation  and  to  enlarge  the  edition  of  the  re- 
ports, met  with  great  opposition,  and  that  a  long  de- 
bate occurred,  in  which  the  merits  of  these  documents 
were  freely  discussed.  This  proceeding  strikes  me 
as  being  very  indelicate,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is 
obviously  absurd.  How  can  those  gentlemen  pretend 
to  judge  of  my  reports  ?  I  take  for  granted  that 
some  sneers  have  been  cast  upon  my  labours ;  and  the 
thought  of  a  legislative  body  employing  itself  in 
venting  spleen  or  exercising  wit  upon  a  paper  of 
which  but  a  very  few  of  them  have  any  adequate 
comprehension,  really  fills  me  with  indignation.  It 
shows,  too,  that  I  have  been  mistaken  in  confiding  in 
the  good  sense  and  good  feeling  of  our  legislature, 
and  will  destroy  much  of  the  satisfaction  I  have  here- 
tofore enjoyed  in  the  prosecution  of  my  tasks.  I  hope 
that,  when  I  hear  definitely  of  what  has  been  done,  I 
shall  find  that  I  now  exaggerate  its  importance.  Im- 
mediately before  adjournment,  it  appears  that  Mr. 

,  who  opposes  improvements  of  all  kinds,  made  a 

motion  to  suspend  further  printing  on  the  subject  for 
the  present,  which  was  carried. 


JErr.  33.]  THE  MULBERRY  CRAZE.  153 

The  internal  improvement  question  has  lagged  on 
very  tardily,  and  I  really  fear  that  nothing  important 
will  be  done,  after  all  the  talking  that  has  occurred. 
Had  I  been  in  Richmond,  no  difficulty  would  have 
arisen  in  regard  to  my  report,  because  in  the  first 
place  I  should  have  prevented  any  doubtful  or  over- 
zealous  movement,  and  in  the  second  I  could  have 
made  full  explanations  satisfactory  to  all.  As  it  is, 
I  am  at  the  mercy  of  the  ignorant  or  the  illiberal.  .  .  . 

Do  not  suppose  I  am  in  despondent  mood.  On  the 
other  hand  I  am  labouring  on  hopefully  and  cheer- 
fully. These  difficulties  are  only  what  were  to  be 
expected,  though  from  the  perfect  smoothness  of  the 
voyage  hitherto  I  have  been  ill-prepared  to  encounter 
a  rough  sea.  .  .  . 

In  1838  many  intelligent  people  in  the  Middle 
States  embarked  in  a  speculative  enterprise  for  the 
cultivation  of  the  Morus  multicaulis,  or  mulberry, 
with  a  view  to  the  rearing  of  silkworms  which  feed 
upon  its  leaves.  A  feverish  speculation  in  these  trees 
developed  and  ran  like  wildfire  throughout  all  classes 
of  the  community.1  The  Rogers  brothers  did  not  es- 
cape the  infection,  and  suffered  a  heavy  loss  of  time, 
energy  and  money.  Of  the  last  William  was  the 
principal  loser.  That  they  were  not  alone  among 
educated  people  in  this  strange  infatuation,  the  fol- 
lowing, concerning  certain  professors  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia,  shows :  — 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  14,  1838. 
.  .  .  Robert  arrived  just  in  time  to  aid  us  by  his 
counsel   in  planting  our  buds.     We  had  not  buried 
them   enough,  and  though   they  were    beginning   to 
shoot,  they  were  doing  so  less  vigorously  than  he  says 
1  See  article,  "  Silk,"  in  Johnson's  Encyclopaedia. 


154       GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1838. 

they  should.  Bonnycastle  is  wanting  buds.  Harrison 
will  soon  be  desirous  of  making  a  little  venture,  and  I 
suppose  Griffith  and  Cabell  will  follow  suit.  .  .  . 

The  immediate  predecessor  of  the  present  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  was 
the  Association  of  American  Naturalists  and  Geolo- 
gists. The  following  letter  from  Professor  Edward 
Hitchcock,  of  Amherst  College,  State  Geologist  of 
Massachusetts,  to  Professor  Henry  Rogers,  relates  to 
the  genesis  of  the  parent  society :  — 

AMHERST,  MASS.,  April  4,  1838. 

...  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  receive  a  copy  of 
your  forthcoming  Report  upon  the  Geology  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  will  forward  you  mine  upon  certain 
points  of  the  economic  Geology  of  Massachusetts. 
You  will  see  I  have  been  compelled,  as  indeed  I  have 
been  in  all  my  publications  on  the  subject,  to  bring  out 
many  things  in  an  immature  state.  The  thing  of 
principal  interest  in  my  report  will  be  a  new  method 
of  analyzing  soils,  by  my  friend,  Dr.  S.  L.  Dana,  who 
is  unquestionably  the  best  chemist  in  New  England, 
and  who  is  well  acquainted  with  geology.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  But,  to  cut  the  matter  short,  I  want  that  you, 
with  such  other  geologists  as  you  choose  to  associate 
with  you  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  should  forth- 
with appoint  a  time  and  place  and  issue  a  circular 
summoning  a  meeting  of  our  geologists.  And  it  seems 
to  me  important  that  this  should  be  done  this  spring, 
before  the  state  geologists  take  the  field  for  another 
campaign.  Let  each  man  be  invited  to  bring  with 
him  any  specimens  he  may  wish  to  be  examined,  and 
let  it  be  understood  that  several  days  will  be  spent 
together,  and  if  you  think  proper,  that  an  association 
will  be  formed.  Perhaps  one  or  two  public  lectures 
might  be  given  during  the  meeting,  or  some  of  the 
discussions  be  made  public.  I  feel  so  strong  a  hope  that 


JET.  33.]     ASSOCIATION  OF  GEOLOGISTS.  155 

you  will  listen  to  these  suggestions  that  I  will  venture 
to  name  the  individuals  in  New  England  whom  I 
think  it  would  be  desirable  to  invite ;  some  of  them 
I  have  seen  within  a  few  days  past,  and  they  express  a 
deep  interest  in  such  a  plan :  Professor  Silliman,  Pro- 
fessor Shepard,  Dr.  Percival,  New  Haven ;  Dr.  C.  T. 
Jackson,  George  B.  Emerson,  President  of  the  Nat- 
ural History  Society,  Professor  Charles  B.  Adams, 
Boston ;  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Dana,  Lowell,  Mass. ;  Pro- 
fessor Cleveland,  Brunswick,  Maine ;  Professor  Hub- 
bard,  Darmouth  College,  Hanover,  N.  H.  I  suppose 
that  New  York  or  Philadelphia  would  be  the  proper 
place  of  meeting.  It  is  quite  customary  for  many 
from  New  England  to  go  to  the  former  city  about  the 
middle  of  May  to  attend  the  religious  anniversaries, 
and  might  it  not  be  well  to  have  the  geological  meet- 
ing about  the  same  time  ?  I  submit  the  whole,  how- 
ever, to  your  better  judgment. 

The  following  refers  to  a  subsequent  visit  of  Pro- 
fessor Hitchcock  to  Philadelphia,  and  his  continued 
interest  in  the  new  project :  — 


HENBT   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  September  26,  1838. 

.  .  .  The  chief  part  of  to-day  I  have  spent  in  com- 
pany with  Professor  Hitchcock,  who,  making  a  brief 
visit  to  the  city,  called  on  me.  He  is  an  engaging, 
unpretending,  and  guileless  man,  and  is  an  ardent 
enthusiast  in  his  pursuit  of  science.  .  .  .  He  sees  and 
admits  already  the  want  of  philosophy  in  all  those 
who,  like  himself,  have  used  old  names  for  our  strata ; 
and  he  said  unasked  that  he  had  perceived  that  I  had 
found  a  key  to  the  geology  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
United  States.  He  is  very  impatient  to  witness  a 
summoning  of  the  geologists  into  an  association,  and 
says  those  of  New  England  will  obey  the  call  most 
cordially.  He  thinks  we  should  commence  it  here  or 


156       GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.   [1838. 

in  New  York.  What  say  you  to  our  trying  it  for 
next  spring  and  in  Philadelphia?  Take  this  into 
grave  consideration,  and  give  me  your  suggestions  as 
to  whether  it  were  better  to  delay  the  movement  until 
a  General  Association  for  all  the  Sciences  can  be 
brought  about,  or  to  make  it  now  for  geology  merely. 
Every  consideration  touching  anticipations  of  the 
future  convinces  me  of  the  importance  of  our  exe- 
cuting this  winter,  you  your  important  task  on  the 
Springs,  myself  my  Report  to  the  British  Association, 
and  both  of  us  jointly  a  general  essay  on  the  Geology 
of  the  Appalachian  region.  Whether  I  go  abroad  or 
not,  I  think  I  can  do  much  towards  these.  .  .  . 

WILLIAM   TO   HENBT. 

UNTVEKSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  14,  1838. 
...  I  have  two  noble  barometers  from  Green,  and 
two  boiling-point  thermometers.  All  these  instru- 
ments were  put  to  the  test  the  day  before  yesterday. 
We  took  them  in  the  new  buggy  up  to  Turk's  Gap, 
leaving  one  of  each  at  Harris's,  low  down  in  the 
Gap.  Aiken  and  I  proceeded  with  the  others  to 
Turk's  Mountain,  which  is  a  very  prominent  point 
to  the  left,  and  a  little  west  of  the  top  of  the  road. 
This  peak  is  composed  of  No.  1  Sandstone,  full  of  the 
lithodomous  impressions.  Its  height  above  Harris's 
is  upwards  of  1,800  feet.  The  thermometers  gave 
results  beautifully  consistent  with  the  others.  We 
then  went  over  into  the  valley  and  made  observa- 
tions on  the  South  River,  Hayden  all  the  while 
making  simultaneous  half-hourly  observations  of  both 
instruments  at  Harris's.  The  next  morning  we  went 
to  the  Black  Rocks,  a  still  higher  point  of  the  ridge, 
composed  of  Sandstone  No.  1  ;  this  gave  us  about 
1,900  feet.  I  am  delighted  with  the  thermometers, 
which  have  been  admirably  constructed  by  Green. 
They  are  graduated  to  tenths  of  degrees,  and  will 
admit  of  being  read  to  fortieths,  which  corresponds  to 
about  twelve  feet.  I  made  a  preliminary  trial,  as  f ol- 


^ET.  33.]     BOILING-POINT  THERMOMETERS.     157 

lows :  Finding  the  boiling-point  on  the  floor  of  my 
laboratory,  I  then  transferred  the  instrument  to  my 
bedroom  and  marked  the  difference,  which  was  easily 
noted.  I  then  measured  the  vertical  distance  of  the 
two,  which  was  twenty-nine  feet,  while  by  the  usual 
rule,  deduced  from  the  boiling-point,  it  was  twenty- 
seven!  I  have  great  hopes  that  these  instruments 
will  help  us  in  approximating  to  the  topography. 
They  are  quite  portable,  and  could  be  carried  in  a 
girdle.  .  .  . 

Aiken  has  not  seen  the  formations  as  they  occur  in 
our  two  northern  districts,  and  goes  to  James  to  study 
them  with  him  and  Hayden.  His  numerous  profiles 
(more  than  twenty),  taken  last  year,  I  have  been 
going  over  with  him,  and  I  think  that  I  have  clear 
ideas  of  the  whole  Southwest.  But  great  and  rapid 
changes  of  the  members  of  the  series  occur,  which  no 
one  but  ourselves  could  have  detected.  .  .  . 


TO   HIS   BROTHER   ROBERT. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  19, 1838. 
MY  DEAR  EGBERT,  —  Peace  has  come  at  last,  but 
not  without  leaving  many  uncomfortable  recollections 
of  late  scenes,  which  are  not  soon  to  be  forgotten.  In 
my  last  I  believe  I  intimated  something  of  a  riot 
either  anticipated  or  actually  in  progress.  This  was 
produced  in  consequence  of  the  refusal  of  the  Faculty 
to  allow  a  ball  on  Jefferson's  birthday.  You  must 
know  that  a  ball  permitted  on  the  22d  was  so  dis- 
graceful in  many  particulars  as  to  excite  general  dis- 
gust. One  of  our  students  was  within  an  ace  of 
perishing  by  mania  a  potu  in  consequence  of  excess. 
Both  his  physicians  despaired  of  him  for  some  hours. 
I  therefore,  with  others,  decidedly  opposed  a  second 
ball,  and  through  some  treachery,  where,  I  know  not, 
my  vote  was  disclosed  to  the  students,  together  with 
some  expressions  calculated  to  wound  their  pride, 
which  I  never  even  dreamt  of  using.  On  the  birthday 


158    GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1838. 

night,  tar-barrels  were  burned  on  the  lawn,  the  belfry 
broken  open  and  the  bell  rung  nearly  all  night. 
Numerous  students  in  disguise,  with  firearms,  paraded 
the  lawn,  assailed  the  doors  and  windows  of  some  of 
the  professors  known  to  be  unfriendly  to  the  ball,  and 
more  particularly  my  own.  At  the  same  time  the 
most  insulting  ribaldry  was  used,  and  their  violence 
was  such  that  neither  I  nor  those  in  the  house  con- 
sidered their  persons  safe.  Accordingly  we  prepared 
ourselves  with  firearms.  On  the  next  day  the  Faculty 
convened,  and,  in  the  midst  of  our  session,  the  chair- 
man was  personally  threatened  by  one  of  the  offend- 
ers. By  my  instance,  the  action  of  the  Faculty  on 
the  accused  was  suspended  until  the  next  day,  and 
then  another  and  worse  scene  of  violence  was  pre- 
sented that  night.  The  following  morning  we  acted, 
and  the  next  night  the  dastards  made  a  deliberate 
and  almost  silent  attack  upon  my  house,  scarcely 
molesting  any  one  else.  They  broke  in  my  front 
door,  stoned  my  house  on  all  sides,  and  for  half  an 
hour  one  of  them  amused  himself  by  breaking  the 
glass  of  my  back  windows.  The  night  was  dark,  and 
he  skulked  behind  the  wall,  and  it  was  impossible  to 
watch,  or  he  would  have  been  inevitably  shot.  Aiken 
and  Hayden  were  with  me  at  the  time.  All  is  quiet 
now.  The  body  of  the  students,  of  course,  reprobate 
the  transaction,  but  here  is  the  evil,  —  their  reproba- 
tion is  not  active,  and  it  is  only  by  being  so  that  the 
institution  can  be  saved.  Our  police  is  worthless ; 
two  or  three  rowdies  can  with  impunity  stone  our 
dwellings,  destroy  our  property,  peril  our  lives,  and 
take  from  us  that  quiet  without  which  the  situation  is 
unworthy  a  man  of  science.  Three  days  have  elapsed 
since  the  sentence,  and  still  one  and  perhaps  more  of 
the  offenders  are  in  the  precincts.  The  very  man  who 
doubtless  broke  my  windows  I  met  this  morning  on 
the  lawn.  Can  an  institution  be  permanent  thus  gov- 
erned ?  or  can  a  professor  consent  to  the  degradation 
of  such  a  life  ?  I  am  determined  not  to  do  it,  and, 


^T.  33.]  A    CLOSING  LECTURE.  159 

my  dear  brothers,  I  write  to  you  to  ask  your  counsel. 
The  pecuniary  sacrifice  of  leaving  the  University  would 
be  great,  but  I  shall  have  a  support  left,  and  I  can 
doubtless  ere  long  have  more.  I  shall  have  time  at 
my  command,  and  my  reputation  as  a  man  of  science, 
which  I  of  course  have  much  at  heart,  will  be  more 
promoted  by  having  more  time  for  research.  I  have 
read  Henry's  Report  with  great  pleasure.  How  far  it 
surpasses  in  true  science  and  broad  philosophical 
views  all  the  others  I  have  received !  I  have  received 
the  Maine,  Ohio  and  Maryland  reports  of  this  year. 
My  own  I  place  above  either  of  them,  but  it  does  not 
come  up  to  Henry's.  .  .  . 

I  have  this  moment  received  Henry's  letter  an- 
nouncing the  happy  news  of  his  success,  and  by  the 
same  mail  a  letter  from  Auditor  Brown  saying  that 
our  state  printer  declares  that  the  10,000  copies  of 
my  report  cannot  be  printed.  What  think  you  of 
that  ?  Business  is  sadly  conducted  with  us. 

Tell  Henry  to  write  to  me  at  once,  and  let  me  have 
the  views  of  all.  Were  I  able  to  pass  the  winter  in 
Richmond  I  could  effect  everything  I  want. 

UNIVERSITY  OP  VIRGINIA,  June  26,  [1838  ?]. 
MY  DEAR  ROBERT,  .  .  .  The  day  of  my  intended 
departure  was  that  on  which  my  lectures  were  to 
close.  But  with  a  heavy  heart,  and  thinking  only 
of  you,  I  went  over  to  my  lecture-room  half  an 
hour  before  the  opening  of  the  lecture,  and  to  my 
astonishment  I  found  the  room  already  almost  full. 
Students,  persons  from  the  country  and  from  Char- 
lottes ville,  thronged  in  until  at  length  they  were 
obliged  to  stand,  every  bench,  chair,  etc.,  being 
crowded.  It  was  evident  that  high  expectations  had 
been  excited,  and  all  this  from  my  having  at  the 
previous  lecture  announced  that  at  the  next  I  would 
close  my  course.  Valedictories  are  not  customary 
here,  and  I  had  not  intended  to  give  one.  Thus  put 
upon  my  mettle,  however,  and  feeling  that  there  was 


160    GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1838. 

something  at  stake,  I  struck  off,  after  briefly  conclud- 
ing astronomy,  into  general  topics  of  Philosophy, 
Education,  etc.,  and  if  I  ana  to  judge  from  the  pro- 
found attention  of  my  audience,  and  the  remarks  since 
made,  I  was  successful.  I  know  I  have  done  better, 
and  had  I  received  your  cheering  letter  before  the  lec- 
ture I  should  have  been  quite  another  man.  Yet  I 
believe  that  I  have  gone  through  my  course  with  a 
good  deal  of  eclat.  Next  year  I  may  look  for  a  very 
large  class.  .  .  . 

Maxwell  has  completed  twelve  of  the  county  maps, 
and  will  make  a  short  visit  to  Philadelphia,  after  fin- 
ishing what  he  is  now  engaged  upon.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  Mr.  Maury's  Navigation  is  briefly  and  moder- 
ately reviewed  in  the  last  "  Southern  Literary  Mes- 
senger." You  will  probably  be  able  to  recognize  the 
writer  of  this  trifling  paragraph.  I  wish  to  show  the 
kind  people  of  Fredericksburg  that  we  apppreciate 
their  hospitality  and  friendship. 

FROM   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 
UNION-TOWN,  FAYETTB  Co.,  PA.,  August  29,  1838. 

...  It  cheers  me  to  learn  the  excellent  progress 
you  have  made  in  developing  your  intricate  Appa- 
lachian Geology.  What  a  noble  mass  of  materials 
we  shall  have  in  two  or  three  years !  I  am  sincerely 
glad  that  James  works  so  well.  Of  Robert's  fine 
talents  for  practical  geology  I  have  spoken. 

Earnestly  do  I  hope  that  nothing  has  interfered 
with  your  design  of  visiting  Tennessee,  for  the  more 
I  witness  of  my  own  region,  the  more  confident  do  I 
grow  in  the  retentiveness  of  type  of  our  several  for- 
mations. Indeed,  I  shall  be  surprised  if  our  thirteen 
formations  do  not  help  us  through  the  whole  Appa- 
lachian basin.  I  wait  impatiently  to  know  your  views 
as  to  things  in  Tennessee.  .  .  . 

I  believe  nearly  all  your  sulphur  springs  are  in 
Formation  XI.  Now  only  remark  the  uniformity  of 
things.  The  only  spring  in  Pennsylvania 


JET.  34.]  GEOLOGY.  161 

bling  those  of  Virginia  is  one  on  the  Portage  E.  E., 
in  Formation  XL,  and,  though  less  powerfully  medi- 
cinal, it  has  every  external  seen  in  your  sulphuretted 
waters.  .  .  . 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  2,  1839. 

.  .  .  My  experiments  on  the  Magnesian  Limestones 
are  perfectly  conclusive.  I  have  more  than  twenty 
which  have  hardened  almost  into  stone.  Of  these, 
some  contain  much  and  some  little  silica,  none  any 
considerable  proportion  of  Alumina  or  Iron.  But 
while  they  have  set  so  completely,  others,  containing 
much  silica  with  the  lime  but  no  Magnesia,  show  no 
disposition  to  cohere  under  water.  Thus  it  seems 
proved  that  in  our  Limestones  the  Magnesia  is  the 
water-setting  agent. 

I  am  desirous  of  knowing  when  the  "  Phil.  Trans." 
will  come  out.  If  it  were  not  probably  too  late,  I 
would  write  for  insertion  in  it  an  account  of  my  mode 
of  analyzing  Magnesian  Limestones,  and  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  experiments  on  the  Hydraulic  Limestones. 
I  have  now  no  doubt  that  good  water-lime  may  be 
procured  in  a  thousand  localities  in  Virginia  and  Penn- 
sylvania, not  only  in  No.  II.,  but  in  No.  VI.  and  No. 
VIII.  What  think  you  of  the  Natural  Bridge  and 
Chimney  rocks  being  chiefly  of  this  variety  ? 

Eemember  me  kindly  to  Dr.  Hare  and  family. 
How  do  I  envy  him  the  relief  he  is  soon  to  have  from 
the  labours  of  the  lecture-room !  My  year's  task  is 
not  much  more  than  half  done,  while  his  is  nearly 
finished.  To  be  able  in  about  a  month  to  mount 
my  nag  and  spend  the  spring  in  the  mountains,  or  in 
explorations  anywhere,  would  be  indeed  a  pleasure ; 
and  if  you  were  along  it  would  be  beyond  everything 
else  delightful.  .  .  . 


162    GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1839. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  2, 1839. 
...  I  have  to  tell  you  of  another  disgraceful  out- 
rage committed  by  students.  Two  of  them,  not  long 
ago  dismissed,  made  an  attack  upon  Dr.  Harrison 
yesterday  morning  as  he  was  returning  from  lecture, 
one  striking  him  with  his  fists  while  the  other  ap- 
plied the  horsewhip.  This  ruffian  deed  took  place 
in  the  presence  of  nearly  one  hundred  students,  of 
whom  only  two  or  three  attempted  to  interpose,  and 
they  not  efficiently.  The  rest,  though  as  they  say 
strongly  disapproving  the  outrage,  looked  on  with 
folded  arms ! !  .  .  .  When  they  had  finished  the  ex- 
ploit, they  mounted  horse  and  rode  towards  Lynch- 
burg,  but  it  is  hoped  the  officers,  who  are  in  pursuit 
of  them,  will  yet  overtake  and  apprehend  them.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  26,  1839. 
...  I  really  forget  whether  I  mentioned  in  my 
last  that  the  two  fugitives,  of  whom  I  have  written, 
•were  overtaken,  and  that  in  their  desperate  struggle 
to  avoid  being  seized,  while  defending  themselves  with 
deadly  weapons,  one  of  them  was  shot  badly  in  the 
shoulder.  He  is,  however,  recovering  from  the  wound, 
and  it  is  fortunate  for  our  peace  and  safety  that  he 
is,  for  the  day  after  the  occurrence  attempts  were 
making,  by  the  exhibition  of  his  bloody  coat  to  groups 
of  students  on  the  lawn,  to  excite  sympathy,  and  to 
inflame  them  against  the  officers  and  the  Faculty.  I 
think  now  that  quiet  will  be  restored.  .  .  . 

In  1839  Professor  Rogers  encountered  in  the  legis- 
lature further  opposition  to  the  survey,  but  Virginia 
was  not  alone  in  its  attitude  towards  geological  re- 
search. 


34.]        THE  SURVEY  UNDER  FIRE.  163 


WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

KlCHMOND,  April  1,  1839. 

I  was  on  the  eve  of  despatching  a  letter  three  days 
ago  from  the  University  when  I  learned  that  it  was 
necessary  for  me  to  set  off  at  once  for  this  place,  as 
the  survey  was  in  peril.  I  came  with  all  speed,  reach- 
ing here  on  Friday  night.  I  found  that,  after  a  warm 
debate  in  which  unwarrantable  liberty  had  been 
taken,  by  dint  of  the  powerful  advocacy  of  Southall, 
Kinney,  Hodges,  and  other  talented  members,  the 
suspension  was  voted  out  by  a  majority  of  seventy-six 
to  forty-eight.  It  has  yet,  as  a  part  of  the  Revenue 
Bill,  to  pass  through  the  Senate,  where  I  learn  it  is 
in  still  greater  danger.  .  .  . 

I  have  no  time  now  to  tell  you  of  the  absurd 
speeches  that  have  been  made  in  and  out  of  the 
House,  the  old  falsehoods  regarding  the  Walton  Mine, 
the  objection  to  my  spending  so  small  a  time  in  the 
field,  etc.,  etc.  An  ignoramus  who  could  not  put  two 
words  correctly  together  made  an  attack  in  which  he 
attempted  to  paint  me  as  I  addressed  the  House  last 
year,  having  a  handful  of  stones  before  me,  such 
as  he  could  pick  up  anywhere  in  the  roads  in  his 
county ;  some  were  red  and  some  were  white,  and  some 
speckled ;  and  I  talked  such  an  outlandish  lingo  that 
he  did  not  understand  a  word  I  said,  and  he  doubted 
whether  I  did  myself.  But,  after  this  farce,  Southall 
rose,  and  I  am  told  made  one  of  the  most  forcible  and 
overwhelming  replies  to  all  opponents  that  was  ever 
heard  in  the  House.  .  .  . 


HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  9, 1839. 

.  .  .  The  Ohio  survey  has  been  suspended ;  that 
of  Maine  also;  and  Ducatel  is  now  quaking  in  his 
shoes.  Thus  goes  on  the  reaction  I  predicted  three 
years  ago.  .  .  .  Conrad,  Vanuxem,  and  Hall  of  the  New 


164    GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1839. 

York  survey,  called  on  me  the  other  day  to  get  me  to 
move  once  more  in  getting  up  a  Geological  Associa- 
tion. It  was  proposed  to  meet  early  in  April  next 
year,  and  meanwhile  to  write  to  our  friends  engaged 
in  state  surveys ;  none  others  to  be  admitted.  I  con- 
sented. I  could  not  refuse,  as  I  was  in  this  quarter 
the  original  mover  ;  we  can,  however,  think  of  it.  If 
we  only  had  time  this  summer  to  complete  our  Gen- 
eral Memoir,  we  might  join  them  with  advantage; 
but  I  fear  we  shall  have  no  time.  What  think 
you?  .  .  . 

In  April,  1839,  Mr.  Eogers  was  thrown  from  a 
carriage  and  seriously  injured :  — 

JAMES   BROWN,   JR.,1   TO   W.    B.   R. 

SECOND  AUDITOR'S  OFFICE,  April  15,  1839. 
...  I  condole  with  and  congratulate  you  at  the 
same  time  on  account  of  your  "  unlucky  accident " 
and  recovery  from  it.  I  sincerely  trust  you  will  not 
again  be  in  such  danger  of  a  broken  neck,  considering 
how  difficult  it  would  be  to  mend  it,  and  how  much 
more  difficult  still  to  find  another  such  head  upon 
any  other  neck.  What  with  your  escape  and  your 
victory  in  the  legislature,  your  elasticity  of  mind  and 
body  will  be  so  great  as  to  be  productive,  I  hope,  of 
some  thirty  or  forty  pounds  more  of  flesh  on  your 
bones  than  you  now  have,  by  the  time  you  complete 
your  summer  excursions.  The  fact  is,  you  overwork 
yourself  in  both  respects,  and  unless  you  can  manage 
to  diminish  your  labours  you  will  wear  yourself  out 
before  you  get  through  with  this  job.  Let  me  hear 
how  you  get  on  occasionally.  .  .  .  Why  do  you  pay 
postage  on  letters  of  business  with  the  public  ? 

1  Auditor  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Virginia. 


JET.  34.]  GEOLOGY.  165 


MB.   ROGERS  TO   HIS   BROTHER  HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  22,  1839. 

...  I  have  looked  into  Murchison  and  am  in  rap- 
tures with  the  work.  In  many  of  his  drawings  of 
Silurian  fossils,  I  think  I  can  at  once  recognize  the 
portraits  of  some  of  ours.  .  .  . 

Had  geologists  commenced  their  observations  in 
the  United  States,  would  they  have  made  the  distinc- 
tion of  Silurian  and  Secondary?  Is  there  any  evi- 
dence of  any  great  epoch  of  convulsion  after  the 
deposition  of  our  Appalachian  series,  more  than  after 
the  deposition  of  IV.?  Do  not  the  red  rocks  con- 
tinue among  the  coal  measures  after  the  transitory 
actions  which  produced  XII.  ?  and  do  we  not  in  X. 
and  XI.  mark  the  gradual  approach  to  the  conditions 
necessary  for  the  production  of  the  great  coal  seams 
of  the  West?  For  my  part,  it  seems  as  natural  to 
make  three  groups  —  I.  to  VII.,  VIII.  to  IX.,  X.  to 
XII.  —  as  two.  ...  I  believe  I  remarked  to  you 
when  here  the  singular  coincidence  in  strike  of  the 
older  Slates  in  Wales,  Cumberland,  etc.,  and  our 
Blue  Ridge  and  Appalachian  series.  Murchison's 
work  shows  this  in  the  Silurian  rocks  very  remark- 
ably. He  also  points  out  numerous  cases  of  inversion, 
such  as  occur  along  our  Blue  Ridge,  in  I.  and  II., 
his  Limestone  dipping  beneath  his  Sandstone,  as  ours. 
With  what  delight  could  I  labour  with  you  in  com- 
paring the  results,  so  beautifully  put  forth  in  this 
work,  with  our  own !  .  .  . 

The  end  of  the  academic  year  found  Professor 
Rogers  thoroughly  exhausted :  — 

TO   HIS    BROTHER    HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  June  20,  1839. 
...  It  seems  to  be  the  impression  here  that  no  in- 
crease of  the  vacation  will  be  granted  by  the  Board 


166    GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1839. 

of  Visitors,  as  several  of  them  are  thoroughly  opposed 
to  it,  and  none  would  agree  to  it  but  on  condition  of 
reducing  the  salaries  and  fees  proportionately.  We 
are  all  utterly  worn  out,  pale  and  emaciated.  But 
our  masters  think  we  have  light  tasks,  and  seeing  us 
at  this  beautiful  season  when  all  is  bright  and  attrac- 
tive around,  and  when  our  duties  have  terminated, 
they  are  unable  to  appreciate  the  amount  of  our 
toil.  .  .  . 

The  vacation  of  1839  was  spent  largely  in  the  field 
in  prosecuting  the  survey  of  Virginia,  and  the  autumn 
passed  without  special  incident.  Already,  in  the  minds 
of  the  brothers  (Henry  and  William)  those  ideas  of 
the  great  Appalachian  System  which  they  afterwards 
developed  with  so  much  success,  were  taking  practical 


WILLIAM   TO-  HENRY. 

.  .  .  S is  a  capital  fellow  in  the  laboratory, 

and  will  make  a  first-rate  analyst.  B is,  I  am 

sorry  to  say,  very  far  his  inferior  in  mind  and  in 
application.  So  much  for  the  difference  between 
being  schooled  in  the  Appalachian  and  the  Alleghany 
Geology.  .  .  . 

How  fully  and  deeply  does  my  heart  respond  to 
the  wish  that  we  could  be  together  in  our  travels 
and  in  all  our  labours !  What  is  interesting  to  me  in 
Science  loses  half  its  power  to  charm  because  my  dear 
brothers  are  not  by  to  share  in  my  enjoyment.  But  I 
have  acquired  the  habit  of  late,  whenever  I  feel  de- 
spondency creeping  over  my  thoughts  (and  this  not 
unfrequently  occurs),  to  look  forward  to  the  cheerful 
prospect  of  our  happy  reunion  ere  long ;  and  when  I 
dwell  upon  this  cherished  theme  I  find  my  spirits 
never  fail  to  be  braced  and  enlivened. 

Robert's  method  of  peroxidating  manganese  is  beau- 
tifully simple.  This  would  at  once  place  the  manu- 


JET.  35.]  ILL-HEALTH.  167 

facture  of  chloride  of  lime  on  a  sure  foundation,  and 
render  it  immensely  profitable.  .  .  . 

Reference  has  often  been  made  in  the  foregoing 
pages  to  an  uncle,  Mr.  James  Rogers,  a  merchant  in 
Philadelphia.  Reverses  in  business,  the  sequel  of  the 
dark  days  of  1837,  now  led  to  the  removal  of  this 
uncle  to  Charlottesville,  where  he  found  a  warm  wel- 
come and  a  home  with  his  nephew  William. 

JAMES  ROGERS,  ESQ.,  TO  ROBERT. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  8,  1840. 

DEAR  ROBERT,  —  I  arrived  at  this  delightful  spot 
on  Tuesday  morning  before  breakfast.  William  re- 
ceived me  with  great  kindness  and  affection :  he  had 
a  room  comfortably  fitted  up  for  my  accommodation, 
which  I  now  occupy,  surrounded  with  books,  pam- 
phlets and  newspapers.  I  ride  frequently,  and  walk 
several  miles  daily,  often  accompanied  by  your  bro- 
ther when  he  has  a  leisure  hour. 

I  have,  since  my  arrival  here,  enjoyed  the  change  of 
scene  and  charming  weather  of  the  past  week  in  a 
degree  far  beyond  my  expectations,  and  the  influence 
on  my  spirits  is  very  great.  I  have  really  had  com- 
parative composure  and  happiness  since  I  left  the 
scene  of  my  pecuniary  misfortunes.  .  .  . 

Throughout  this  year  (1840)  Professor  Rogers  was 
in  feeble  health.  He  writes  :  — 

UNIVERSITY  OP  VIRGINIA,  March  18, 1840. 
MY  DEAR  HENRY,  .  .  .  My  only  trouble  now  is 
on  the  score  of  health.  My  throat  is  pretty  well,  but 
I  am  gnawed  continually  by  dyspepsia.  How  many 
days  has  this  vile  tormentor  caused  me  to  lose  !  But 
I  trust  I  shall  be  able  to  shake  it  off  by  care  in  diet 
and  by  active  exercise.  .  .  . 


168    GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY   OF  VIRGINIA.    [1840. 

TO  JAMES   BROWN,   JR.,   ESQ. 

April  (?),  1840. 

.  .  .  My  health  is  now  rapidly  improving,  and  I 
hope  that  in  a  week  or  two  I  shall  be  in  my  usual  condi- 
tion. This  fine  weather  has  invited  me  out  among  the 
flowers,  and  I  have  been  planting  the  seed  with  which 
I  was  so  kindly  furnished  by  the  ladies.  When  I  go 
down  again,  I  shall  be  tempted  to  beg  for  more  mat- 
ters to  ornament  my  garden. 

I  hope  my  good  friend  is  quite  well,  and  that  Mrs. 
B.  and  the  ladies  are  enjoying  the  sweet  air  and  bright 
verdure  of  the  season.  Oh,  that  I  could  rest  for  a 
week  or  two  with  kind  friends  in  Richmond!  I 
should  be  worth  a  dozen  of  what  I  am  now.  .  .  . 

FROM   H.    C.    WILLIAMS,   ESQ. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  May  26, 1840. 

DEAR  SIB,  —  We  have  recently  organized  a  Soci- 
ety l  here,  the  object  of  which  is  to  form  cabinets  of 

1  "In  1840  two  important  national  societies  were  founded,  —  the 
National  Institution  for  the  Promotion  of  Science,  and  the  American 
Society  of  Geologists  and  Naturalists,  —  the  one  an  association  with  a 
great  membership,  scientific  and  otherwise,  including  a  large  number 
of  government  officials;  the  other  composed  exclusively  of  profes- 
sional naturalists. 

"  The  purpose  of  each  was  the  advancement  of  the  scientific  interests 
of  the  nation,  which  seemed  more  likely  to  receive  substantial  aid, 
now  that  the  money  bequeathed  by  Smithson  was  lying  in  the  Treas- 
ury vaults  waiting  to  be  used. 

"  The  National  Institution,  under  the  leadership  of  Joel  R.  Poinsett, 
of  South  Carolina,  then  Secretary  of  War,  assisted  by  General  J.  J. 
Abert,  F.  A.  Markoe,  and  others,  had  a  short  but  brilliant  career, 
which  endured  until  the  close  of  the  Tyler  administration  and  had  an 
important  influence  on  public  opinion,  bringing  about  in  the  minds  of 
the  people  and  of  Congress  a  disposition  to  make  proper  use  of  the 
Smithson  bequest,  and  which  also  did  much  to  prepare  the  way  for 
the  National  Museum.  The  extensive  collections  of  the  National  In- 
stitution, and  those  of  the  Wilkes  Expedition  and  other  government 
surveys,  were  in  time  merged  with  those  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 


2ET.35.]      A  NEW  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETY.          169 

Natural  Science.  We  shall  take  in  every  branch, 
and  the  specimens  received  from  the  Exploring  Ex- 
pedition, those  collected  by  Dr.  Owen  in  Wisconsin 
and  Iowa,  together  with  those  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  Department,  will  make  a  very  handsome  be- 
ginning. You  will  be  written  to  officially  on  the  sub- 
ject, as  we  shall  address  a  circular  to  the  scientific 
gentlemen  of  this  and  foreign  countries,  to  the  Ex- 
ecutive of  the  several  States,  and  to  the  governments 
in  friendly  correspondence  with  ours,  requesting  their 
aid.  The  Society  was  formed  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Secretary  of  War ;  it  will  be  a  governmental  mat- 
ter, but  private  individuals,  for  a  while,  will  have 
charge  of  it  on  their  own  account.  By  next  winter 
we  anticipate  such  a  fine  collection  that  Congress  will 
be  induced  to  make  a  handsome  appropriation  to 
carry  on  the  enterprise.  Gentlemen  of  all  political 
parties  are  active  members  of  the  Society,  among 
whom  may  be  mentioned  Mr.  Adams,  Colonel  Benton 
and  Dr.  Linn.  One  of  the  professors  from  Princeton 
College  took  an  active  part  in  forming  the  Society,  — 
his  name  I  can  neither  spell  nor  pronounce,  —  Colonel 
Totton,  Colonel  Abert,  Mr.  Markoe,  Professor  Hall, 
and  some  second-rate  scientific  men,  with  a  lower 
order  made  up  of  myself.  General  Patton  and  some 

tion,  and,  having  been  greatly  increased  at  the  close  of  the  Centennial 
Exposition,  began  in  1879  to  receive  substantial  support  from  Con- 


"  The  Society  of  Geologists  was  not  so  prominent  at  the  time,  but  it 
has  had  a  longer  history,  for  in  1850  it  became  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  Although  it  dated  its  origin 
from  1840,  it  was  essentially  a  revival  and  continuation  of  the  old 
American  Geological  Society,  organized  September  6,  1819,  in  the 
Philosophical  Room  of  Yale  College,  and  in  its  day  a  most  important 
body.  Its  members,  following  European  usage,  appended  to  their 
names  the  symbols,  '  M.  A.  G.  S.,'  and  among  them  were  many  dis- 
tinguished men,  for  at  that  time  almost  every  one  who  studied  any 
branch  of  science  cultivated  geology  also."  —  G.  Brown  Goode, 
Origin  of  the  Natural  Science  and  Educational  Institutions  of  the 
United  States,  pp.  66,  67.  1890. 


170      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1840. 

others  are  the  working  members.  Mr.  Markoe  has 
a  splendid  collection.  Dr.  Hall's  ranks  next,  then 
Messrs.  Abert's  and  Totton's ;  these  gentlemen  will 
make  large  deposits  in  the  cabinet  of  the  Society  so 
that  it  will  be  complete  in  the  first  instance  in  Min- 
eralogy, and  very  full  in  Geology.  We  indulge  very 
sanguine  hopes  of  being  able  to  perpetuate  the  Soci- 
ety ;  the  government  will  have  so  large  an  interest  in 
it  that  it  must  remain,  and  if  we  can  keep  up  the 
spirit  in  twenty  persons,  there  will  be  no  danger  of  a 
premature  death,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Columbian  In- 
stitute. When  you  again  pass  this  way,  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  we  shall  have  enough  to  engage  your  at- 
tention for  a  day  at  least,  and,  as  I  live  within  forty 
yards  of  the  building  we  shall  temporarily  use,  you 
will  be  pleased  to  make  my  house  your  stopping-place. 
It  will  afford  me  infinite  pleasure  to  show  you  our 
collection,  and  introduce  you  to  such  of  our  members 
as  you  may  not  be  acquainted  with. 

On  August  22,  1840,  Professor  Eogers  was  in- 
formed of  his  election  to  membership  in  the  National 
Institution  for  the  Promotion  of  Science,  and  the  fol- 
lowing is  his  letter  of  acknowledgment :  — 

TO    H.    C.    WILLIAMS,    ESQ. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  September  8,  1840. 
DEAE  SIR,  —  The  hurry  of  our  first  collegiate  week 
must  be  my  apology  for  having  delayed  replying  to 
your  gratifying  letter,  and  tendering  my  acknowledg- 
ment for  the  honour  of  being  enrolled  among  the  mem- 
bers of  your  new  Institution  for  the  Promotion  of 
Science.  Though  from  the  number  and  urgency  of  my 
other  scientific  engagements  it  may  not  be  in  my 
power  to  contribute  such  aid  to  the  Society  as  to  ren- 
der me  really  deserving  of  membership,  I  heartily 
promise  you  whatever  help  it  may  be  in  my  power  to 
give,  and  I  hope  that  the  early  completion  of  some 


JEx.  35.]     A   NEW  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETY.  171 

of  my  present  tasks  will  enable  me  ere  very  long  to 
become  a  more  efficient  auxiliary. 

Not  knowing  exactly  the  scope  of  the  Institution, 
more  particulary  as  relates  to  your  meetings  and  pub- 
lic exercises,  if  any,  I  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting, 
as  likely  to  prove  useful  in  giving  greater  publicity  to 
your  proceedings,  the  delivery  of  occasional  or  regular 
lectures  on  subjects  of  natural  science  during  the  win- 
ter. A  few  able  discourses  of  this  kind,  by  the  inter- 
est they  would  excite  in  the  enlightened  minds  then 
assembled  in  Washington,  might  conduce  more  to 
your  prosperity  than,  even  with  your  observations  of 
the  effects  produced  by  analogous  means  in  regard  to 
other  matters,  you  would  be  inclined  to  suppose.  From 
my  own  experience  I  can  confidently  say  that  in  this 
country  a  most  ready  sympathy  is  always  accorded 
to  the  aspirations  of  those  devoting  themselves  to 
practical  science,  whenever  its  claims  are  justly  and 
adequately  set  forth.  Probably  you  have  already 
projected  such  a  plan  of  public  discourses.  If  so,  as 
the  only  means  at  present  in  my  power  of  forwarding 
your  views,  and  in  token  of  my  sincere  desire  to  pro- 
mote the  highly  laudable  objects  to  which  you  propose 
devoting  yourselves,  I  will  promise  to  take  a  part  in 
these  discourses,  at  some  convenient  time  during  the 
winter,  to  the  extent  of  one  or  two  lectures. 

I  am  much  pleased  with  the  Address  you  have  been 
kind  enough  to  forward  to  me,  and  send  you  a  copy 
of  my  last  Report,  for  the  Society.  As  soon  as  I  can 
procure  copies  of  my  other  Reports,  I  will  send  you 
an  entire  set. 

With  best  wishes  for  your  health,  and  for  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Society,  I  remain,  dear  sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WILLIAM  B.  ROGERS. 


172      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1840. 

FROM   H.   C.    WILLIAMS,   ESQ. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  October  10,  1840. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  A  variety  of  engagements  has  pre- 
vented my  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  your  letter  and 
last  annual  Report.  I  took  the  liberty  of  showing  your 
letter  to  Mr.  Secretary  Poinsett,  who  expressed  him- 
self highly  pleased  with  your  suggestions.  We  have 
contemplated  the  delivery  of  lectures,  but  that  will 
depend  upon  our  receiving  the  Smithsonian  bequest. 
An  effort  will  be  made  this  winter  to  blend  the  two 
Institutions,  and  as  the  dividend  of  the  bequest  now 
exceeds  thirty  thousand  dollars,  there  is  an  income 
sufficient  to  compensate  several  professors,  and  the 
sum  already  accrued  can  be  applied  to  the  purchase 
of  a  library  and  philosophical  apparatus.  Mr.  Adams's 
project l  stands  in  our  way,  but  that  obstacle  is  not 
regarded  as  insurmountable.  Mr.  Poinsett  asked  me  if 
I  thought  that  you  could  be  induced  to  accept  of  one 
of  the  professorships.  My  reply  was,  that  I  believed 
you  were  much  attached  to  the  University,  but  if  the 
National  Institution  was  established  on  the  broad  basis 
that  had  been  contemplated,  the  liberal  salaries  to  the 
professors,  together  with  the  disposal  of  their  time 
during  the  recess  of  Congress,  being  inducements,  as  I 
thought,  you  might  regard  an  offer  of  the  kind  in  a 
favourable  point  of  view.  Should  this  scheme  succeed, 
the  professors  will  have  to  be  taken  from  the  colleges 
and  universities  of  this  country ;  the  most  distin- 
guished gentlemen  will  be  selected,  and  we  shall  have 
to  propose  larger  salaries  than  a  state  institution  can 
afford.  I  think  the  Secretary  has  his  eye  on  you  for 
Geology  or  Natural  Philosophy.  I  think  it  right  to 
put  you  in  possession  of  this  conversation.  Mr.  Poin- 
sett will  deliver  an  oration  before  the  Society  some  time 
during  the  winter.  Now  we  are  busily  employed  in 
preparing  to  make  a  good  show  by  the  meeting  of 
Congress  ;  from  that  body  we  have  received  the  favour 
1  See  Pop.  Science  Monthly,  January,  1896,  p.  294. 


2Er.  36.]      A  NEW  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETY.  173 

of  $500,  and  at  the  ensuing  session  some  further  ap- 
propriation will  be  asked.  In  a  few  days  Dr.  Owen's 
collection  will  arrive ;  but  the  specimens  sent  home 
by  the  Exploring  Expedition  will  remain  untouched 
until  the  squadron  returns. 

FROM   J.    K.    POINSETT,    SECRETARY   OF   WAR. 

WASHINGTON,  December  28,  1840. 

SIR, —  At  the  last  monthly  meeting  of  the  "Na- 
tional Institution  for  the  Promotion  of  Science,"  it 
was  unanimously  resolved  that  an  effort  should  be 
made  to  have  a  course  of  lectures  delivered  during 
the  present  season  on  the  several  subjects  which  oc- 
cupy the  attention  of  the  Institution,  as  the  best  means 
of  promoting  its  designs,  —  securing  the  favourable 
notice  of  Congress,  and  procuring  the  cooperation  of 
men  of  science  throughout  the  Union.  The  duty  was 
assigned  to  me,  as  senior  director,  of  soliciting  for 
this  purpose  the  services  of  the  members  of  the  Insti- 
tution, and  of  professors  and  gentlemen  in  the  neigh- 
bouring cities  and  States. 

The  high  opinion  entertained  by  the  members  of  the 
Institution,  and  my  own  estimate  of  your  attainments 
and  qualifications,  induce  me  to  address  myself  to  you 
with  the  hope  that  it  may  be  consistent  with  your  in- 
clination, and  with  other  engagements,  to  deliver  one  of 
the  series  of  lectures  at  as  early  a  period  as  may  suit 
your  convenience. 

Should  it  be  in  your  power  to  confer  upon  the  In- 
stitution the  favour  of  complying  with  this  application, 
it  will  be  left  entirely  to  your  judgment  to  select  such 
a  subject  as  you  may  think  best  adapted  to  promote 
the  objects  of  the  Institution. 

With  respectful  consideration,  I  have  the  honour  to 
be,  sir, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

J.   R.   POINSETT. 
PROFESSOR  W.  B.  ROGERS, 

University  of  Virginia. 


174      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1840. 

In  1840  Mr.  Rogers  made  the  important  discovery 
that  large  deposits  of  "  infusorial  earth,1"  now  so-called, 
occur  in  Virginia.  His  first  reference  to  this  subject 
appears  in  a  letter  to  his  brother  Robert. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  July  1, 1840. 

DEAR  ROBERT,  .  .  .  What  do  you  think?  The 
light  white  earth  from  the  Rappahannock  Cliffs,  which 
you  thought  some  years  ago  might  be  carb.  of  magne- 
sia, but  which  we  proved  to  be  very  pure  silex,  turns 
out  to  be  a  mass  of  Infusoria.  This  is  a  discovery, 
I  find  also  that  the  light  and  very  white  silicious  earth 
contained  in  our  iron  ore  in  the  hollow  nodules,  etc., 
is  largely  composed  of  Infusoria  of  a  different  de- 
scription.1 

During  the  summer  of  1840  William  and  Henry 
met  in  Philadelphia,  and  proceeded  northwards  as  far 
as  Canada  and  New  England.  They  started  on  Au- 
gust 21  "  with  the  double  view  of  geological  inquiry 
and  wholesome  travel."  Mr.  James  Rogers  (the  uncle) 
remained  in  William's  house  at  the  University.  The 
part  which  he  played  in  the  bachelor  housekeeping 
became  more  and  more  important,  and  the  arrange- 
ment was  clearly  of  mutual  benefit. 

MB.   ROGERS  TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  September  14, 1840. 
...  Be  assured,  my  dear  Henry,  I  shall  avoid  tax- 
ing myself  with  all  unnecessary  labour.     I  am  as  yet 
lecturing  but  three  times  a  week,  and  will  at  no  time 
meet  my  classes  more  than  six  times.     The  remem- 
brance of  my  prostration  last  session  would  be  of  itself 
sufficient  motive  to  avoid  excessive  labour,  for  I  have 
not  yet  recovered  from  the  shock  I  then  sustained. 
1  See  Geology  of  the  Virginias,  p.  438.     ^ 


JErr.  36.]  DISCOVERY  OF  INFUSORIAL  EARTH.    175 

With  less  power  to  make  strong  temporary  exertion, 
my  health  is  certainly  better  than  it  was  last  autumn. 
Uncle  has  greatly  improved  my  household  arrange- 
ments, and  with  far  more  comfort  and  retirement,  we 
are  living  much  more  economically  than  heretofore. 
I  have  found  him  so  judicious  in  managing,  that  I 
commit  all  these  matters  to  his  direction.  He  will, 
of  course,  continue  with  me  this  winter,  and  will  be 
the  only  guest  I  shall  have.  I  am  making  a  study  of 
my  large  room  upstairs,  where  I  am  now  seated,  and 
using  the  room  below  exclusively  as  a  dining  and  re- 
ceiving room.  With  a  stove  instead  of  the  Franklin, 
and  the  front  windows  boarded  up,  I  shall  make  myself 
quite  snug. 

You  ought  all  to  seek  agreeable  society  as  often  as 
possible.  I  hope  James  will  not  continue  so  recluse 
as  he  has  been,  nor  ought  you,  my  dear  Henry,  to 
omit  frequent  if  not  daily  social  relaxation.  Most 
heartily  do  I  wish  society  were  on  a  footing  to  render 
the  cost  of  its  enjoyment  less.  But  at  all  costs  it 
should  to  some  extent  be  enjoyed.  .  .  .  Tell  James,  as 
soon  as  he  has  time,  to  make  out  the  details  of  his 
analaysis  of  the  meteorite  and  send  it  in  a  letter. 
I  will  draw  up  a  little  account  in  our  joint  names 
which  he  may  read  before  the  Society,  or  dispose 
of  otherwise  as  he  may  think  proper.  Would  it 
not  be  well  for  me  to  give  a  brief  account  of  the 
infusorial  beds  of  Virginia,  which  you  might  present 
to  the  Society  along  with  some  of  the  specimens  which 
you  have  ? 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  November  9, 1840. 
.  .  .  Uncle  has  become  quite  the  oracle  of  the 
neighbourhood  on  the  subject  of  the  elections.  He  has 
shown  far  more  knowledge  and  sagacity  as  regards 
the  results  than  any  other  person  here.  He  is  quite 
well  and  cheerful.  .  .  . 


176      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1840. 


FROM  HIS  BROTHER  HENRY. 

PHILADELPHIA,  November  9,  1840. 

...  I  fear  the  death  of  your  able  colleague  (Bonny- 
castle)1  may  a  little  embarrass  your  own  course.  But 
bear  in  mind  how  small  is  your  stock  of  strength,  how 
heavy  the  tasks  you  have  already  set  yourself  to  do. 
I  like  Goethe's  motto,  "  Be  like  a  star  that  never 
resteth,  but  hasteneth  not."  The  best  portion  of  life 
is  surely  yet  before  us ;  not,  however,  if  by  over-toil 
we  lose  the  capacity  to  enjoy  it.  Do  take  these  hints 
well  to  heart.  You  know  how  much  I  would  wish  to 
say  on  this  topic  if  I  had  the  space.  .  .  . 

A  perusal  of  letters  already  given  in  this  chapter 
will  suffice  to  show  that  a  dangerous  spirit  of  insubor- 
dination existed  in  the  student  body  of  the  University. 
The  climax  was  reached  on  November  12,  1840,  the 
fourth  anniversary  of  the  so-called  "Military  Rebel- 
lion," when  the  Chairman  of  the  Faculty  and  Pre- 
siding Officer  of  the  University,  Professor  John  A.  G. 
Davis  was,  unhappily,  murdered  by  one  of  the  stu- 
dents. Professor  Kogers's  comments  upon  this  affair, 
made  two  days  later  in  a  private  letter,  indicate  the 
prevailing  sentiment  of  the  Faculty. 

TO  HIS   BROTHERS   IN   PHILADELPHIA. 

UNIVEKSITT  OF  VIKGIKIA,  November  16, 1840. 
MY  DEAR  BROTHERS,  —  This  morning  I  assisted 
in  laying  another  of  my  colleagues  in  the  grave.  My 
kind  friend,  and  long  my  bosom  companion,  Davis, 
died  on  Saturday  evening  of  a  wound  received  on  the 
preceding  Thursday  night !  He  was  shot  in  cold  blood 
in  front  of  his  own  door  while  watching  the  movements 
of  a  student  who,  disguised  and  masked,  was  making 

1  Charles  Bonnycastle.  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  University 
of  Virginia. 


^ET.  36.]  A   PROFESSOR  SHOT.  177 

riotous  noises  and  firing  a  pistol  on  the  lawn.  The 
assassin  retired  a  few  paces  from  Mr.  Davis  before 
firing,  and  then  deliberately  discharged  his  pistol,  the 
ball  from  which  penetrated  the  abdomen  obliquely, 
and,  passing  through  to  the  hip  bone,  terminated  its 
course  about  half  an  inch  beneath  the  skin.  At  first, 
and  indeed  until  after  his  death,  the  wound  was  not 
considered  of  a  mortal  character,  but  supposed  to  be 
rather  superficial.  He  died  a  Christian  hero,  blessing 
his  family  and  his  weeping  colleagues  and  friends 
assembled  around  his  bedside. 

Those  engaged  in  the  atrocious  murder  have  been 
arrested,  and  he  who  fired  the  fatal  ball,  as  well  as 
his  chief  and  perhaps  only  accomplice,  are  in  confine- 
ment. The  students  to  a  man  joined  in  the  pursuit 
of  the  villains,  and  it  was  by  their  efforts  they  were 
secured.  They  have  also  been  active  in  collecting  the 
evidence,  which,  as  it  now  exists,  convicts  the  princi- 
pal of  murder  in  the  first  degree,  probably.  Not  the 
smallest  provocation  is  urged  in  extenuation  of  the 
deed.  No  violence  was  attempted  by  Davis,  but  he 
was  mildly  exercising  the  proper  supervision  which 
appertained  to  his  duty  as  Chairman.  The  murderer, 
quite  a  youth,  so  reckless  of  consequences,  remained 
in  the  University  the  next  day  until  arrested  by  his 
fellow-students.  He  has  since  been  tried  by  a  Court 
of  Magistrates,  who  found  the  chain  of  evidence  irre- 
sistible, and  committed  him  to  prison.  The  bullet 
was  extracted  after  the  death  of  Professor  Davis,  and 
its  peculiar  form  and  marks  were  distinctly  recognized 
by  one  of  the  students,  who,  on  the  morning  of  the 
fatal  day,  had  lent  the  pistol  to  the  assassin,  little  sus- 
pecting the  horrid  tragedy  of  which  it  was  to  be  the 
instrument.  It  appears  that  the  perpetrator  of  the 
crime,  from  all  accounts  a  heartless  though  determined 
villain,  had  no  particular  grudge  against  Davis,  but 
was  determined,  as  he  had  before  been  heard  to  say, 
that  he  would  shoot  any  professor  who  attempted  to 
discover  him  while  engaged  in  a  riot.  .  .  .  The  con- 


178      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.     [184(X 

duct  and  feelings  of  the  students  on  this  occasion  have 
shown  that  they  are  entirely  worthy  of  the  high  opin- 
ion the  Faculty  had  formed  of  them. 

Of  the  afflicted  family  of  poor  Davis  I  cannot  speak 
without  weeping.  Mrs.  Davis  was  for  some  time 
bereft  of  reason.  .  .  . 

Bache  has  written  to  me  in  behalf  of  Courtenay  for 
the  Mathematical  Chair.  I  shall  reply  to-morrow.  I 
should  like  Courtenay  as  a  colleague  very  much.  How 
disastrous  has  been  the  history  of  this  session,  —  the 
death  of  two  of  our  professors,  and  that  in  the  latter 
instance  under  circumstances  so  peculiarly  afflicting. 
But  I  trust  the  event  will  prove  a  salutary  warning, 
and  in  the  end  be  a  public  benefit. 

I  am  quite  well.  To-morrow  we  shall  resume  our 
lectures.  .  .  . 

The  University  gradually  became  calm  once  more, 
and  Professor  Rogers  returned  to  his  scientific  studies. 


TO    HIS    BROTHER    HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  December  3,  1840. 
...  I  wish  much  to  have  a  talk  with  you  about 
scientific  matters.  Could  I  have  obtained  a  sight  of 
Ehrenberg,  I  would  have  drawn  up  a  paper  for  the 
"  Transactions "  in  relation  to  our  infusorial  forma- 
tion. You  know  I  found  that  potash  is  absent  from  the 
ashes  of  coal  and  lignite  and  mineral  charcoal.  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  that  this  is  due  to  the  solvent 
action  of  water,  and  am  now  trying  to  determine 
whether  common  charcoal,  largely  washed  with  hot 
water,  does  not  lose  all  or  part  of  its  potash.  The 
last  number  of  the  "  Philosophical  Magazine  "  is  quite 
interesting.  I  am  impatient  to  see  the  Memoirs  of 
Murchison  and  Sedgwick  on  the  Devonian  rocks.  I 
suppose  you  have  them  in  the  last  number  of  the 
"  Geological  Transactions."  .  .  . 


^T.  36.]  COST  OF  THE  SURVEY.  179 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  January  5,  1841. 

...  As  for  my  tasks,  they  are  indeed  making  but 
slow  progress.  I  have,  however,  begun  my  Report  in 
earnest,  though  I  have  not  the  time,  were  I  inclined,  to 
devote  many  hours  to  it  daily.  My  time  is  so  broken 
up  by  other  concerns  that  continuous  writing  for 
more  than  an  hour,  or  at  most  two  hours,  is  imprac- 
ticable. I  am  determined  to  make  my  Report  a  short 
one,  and  to  endeavour,  if  possible,  to  hand  it  in  by  the 
last  of  this  month.  It  is  supposed  by  some  persons 
here  that  the  Legislature  may  adjourn  early  next 
month,  but  of  this,  having  heard  nothing  official,  I 
feel  quite  doubtful.  As  yet  nothing  has  appeared  in 
the  papers,  or  otherwise  reached  me,  to  indicate  the 
temper  of  the  Legislature.  I  am  not  without  strong 
hopes,  by  my  personal  interview  with  some  of  the 
members  in  Richmond,  of  obtaining  the  full  appropri- 
ation for  another  year,  and  I  am  proceeding  with  the 
early  part  of  my  Report  upon  the  assumption  of  being 
thus  permitted  to  continue.  Thus  far  we  have  ex- 
pended about  36,000  dollars,  and  have  been  a  little 
less  than  five  years  at  work  upon  our  new  organiza- 
tion ;  whereas,  when  the  appropriation  was  solicited,  I 
calculated  upon  expending  about  50,000  dollars,  and 
requiring  six  years  for  the  completion  of  our  opera- 
tions. This  you  see,  makes  quite  a  strong  case  when  I 
refer,  as  I  am  now  doing,  to  my  Report  of  1836.  .  .  . 

In  showing  the  infusoria,  you  ought  to  use  both 
Raspail's  and  the  other  microscope.  The  former 
shows  you  the  whole  mass  of  fine  particles  as  portions 
of  an  exquisite  gauze-work  of  rotifer-like  fossils.  Use 
the  next  to  the  highest  power.  The  other  best  dis- 
plays the  rings.  These  rotifer  objects  form  by  far  the 
greater  portion  of  the  substance,  and  are,  I  think, 
quite  peculiar.  They  do  not  occur  in  Ehrenberg's 
Tertiary,  and  mark,  I  think,  the  older  character  of 
this,  approaching  the  chalk.  ...  I  find  the  specific 
gravity  of  the  infusorial  earth  from  the  Rappahannock 
to  be  only  0.334  ! !  .  .  . 


180      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1841. 


HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  January  8,  1841. 

.  .  .  Our  communication  was  well  received.  Next 
time  I  shall  introduce  your  discovery  of  the  infu- 
soria. There  will  be  a  copy  of  Ehrenberg  here  in 
two  months.  Goddard  has  now  a  superb  microscope. 
I  shall  examine  your  specimen,  and  if  I  can,  but  not 
just  yet,  will  send  you  drawings.  The  first  treat  you 
allow  yourself  should  be  one  of  these  splendid  instru- 
ments. If  I  could  get  a  sale  for  my  magnetic  instru- 
ment, it  would  go  far  to  get  us  a  microscope.  .  .  . 


WILLIAM   TO  HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  January  18,  1841. 
.  .  .  My  delay  in  Richmond  was  made  necessary 
by  the  interests  of  the  Survey,  which  could  only  be 
fairly  represented  by  myself.  .  .  .  The  Legislature  is 
mainly  composed  of  liberal  gentlemen,  though  of  little 
knowledge  in  matters  of  science,  and  I  have  little 
doubt  of  their  making  a  sufficient  appropriation  for 
publishing  next  winter.  One  of  the  members,  who 
on  Friday  last  made  an  incidental  attack  upon  the 
Survey,  came  to  me  yesterday,  and  after  seeing  the 
map  and  sections,  and  conversing  with  me  for  an 
hour,  stated  his  determination  to  give  his  active  sup- 
port to  the  bill,  and  has  made  the  same  statement  to 
Southall,  Dorman  and  others.  Thus,  you  see,  I  have 
been  quite  as  successful  in  my  visit  as  I  could  have 
hoped,  —  indeed  more  so  than  I  hoped.  But  I  had 
much  anxiety  and  toil,  and  I  am  very  glad  to  be 
again  quietly  at  home.  .  .  .  Though  much  occupied 
during  the  day,  I  enjoyed  most  of  my  evenings  at 
Richmond,  and  most  heartily  did  I  wish  that  all  of 
you  could  partake  of  the  music,  etc.,  which  I  enjoyed 
at  Stannard's,  Cabell's,  Lyon's,  etc.  How  I  sighed 
for  leisure  !  So  many  kind,  engaging  friends,  to  be 
merely  looked  at  for  a  day  or  two  and  then  left ! 


-ET.36.]  RICHMOND  FRIENDS.  181 

Such  attractive  young  lassies,  whom  I  wished  to  know 
better,  but  was  compelled  precipitately  to  leave ! 
Really,  my  dear  Henry,  you  ought  to  see  the  female 
society  of  Richmond  just  now.  I  know  you  would  be 
charmed  by  it,  as  I  am.  .  .  . 

TO  HIS  BROTHER   ROBERT. 

DEAR  ROBERT,  .  .  .  My  sojourn  in  Richmond  was 
full  of  pleasure.  My  many  dear  friends  there,  Mrs. 
Empie  and  Mrs.  Guathmay  especially,  did  everything 
to  make  me  comfortable  and  happy.  The  favourable 
prospects  of  the  survey,  at  first  not  anticipated,  and 
the  success  I  met  in  my  public  lectures  there  and  in 
Petersburg,  all  prepared  me  to  enjoy  with  a  keen  rel- 
ish the  kind  hospitalities  of  my  numerous  acquaint- 
ances, whose  invitations  awaited  me  every  day.  But 
how  sad  the  contrast  experienced  here  I  The  stupid 
dulness  and  unvaried  monotony  of  the  University 
never  before  weighed  so  heavily  upon  my  spirits  as 
they  have  for  the  last  ten  days.  I  feel  that  I  am  but 
half-alive  here,  and  am  more  than  ever  resolved,  when 
able,  to  quit  the  scene  for  one  more  congenial  to  my 
tastes  and  more  likely  to  promote  my  happiness.  .  .  . 


WILLIAM  TO   HIS  BROTHERS. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  5,  1841. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHERS,  —  I  forget  to  whom  I  wrote 
last,  but  it  makes  no  difference.  My  letters  are  for 
all. 

We  are  as  dull  as  a  mill-pond  in  a  deep  hollow 
where  no  breeze  can  touch  it.  My  heart  longs  for 
the  cheering  impulses  of  society  with  my  brothers 
and  with  the  busy  world.  ..." 


182      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.     [1841. 


TO  HIS  BROTHER  JAMES. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  8,  1841. 

.  .  .  Matters  here  are  as  usual,  —  too  dull,  almost, 

to  engender  a  pun,  though  Mr. makes  the  effort 

now  and  then.  Like  a  busy  hen,  he  cackles  when- 
ever he  feels  the  inward  motion  towards  wit,  but  he 
does  not  always  produce  the  egg. 

Kiss  both  the  boys  for  their  uncle,  and  tell  Rachel 
I  long  again  to  see  her  and  them. 

The  fate  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Virginia  was 
now  determined  by  the  Legislature,  and  commented 
upon  by  the  Director  in  a  letter  to  Judge  May  of  the 
House  of  Delegates :  — 

TO   JUDGE  J.   F.   MAT. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  13,  1841. 
DEAR  SIR,  —  By  this  morning's  papers  I  find  that 
the  appropriation  to  the  Geological  Survey  is  to  be 
discontinued  on  the  1st  of  January  next.  It  is  prob- 
able that  you  in  proposing  this,  and  the  other  friends 
of  the  work  in  acceding  to  it,  were  not  aware  that  the 
geological  year,  as  we  call  it,  commences  on  the  1st 
of  April,  and  that  in  making  this  appropriation  the 
Legislature  is  in  reality  only  appropriating  for  nine 
months,  and  not,  as  I  presume  they  supposed  they  were 
doing,  for  another  year.  In  stating  to  you  and  Dr. 
Leyburn  by  letter  that  one  more  year  would  enable 
me  to  bring  the  work  to  a  close,  or  so  near  it  that  I 
could  myself  carry  it  to  completion,  I  had  in  view 
keeping  all  my  assistants  busily  occupied  in  analysis 
and  arranging  the  cabinet  during  the  whole  of  next 
winter.  The  bill  recently  passed  will  entirely  pre- 
clude this,  as,  soon  after  their  return  from  the  field, 
they  will  leave  me,  and  the  mass  of  chemical  and 
other  details  which  would  devolve  upon  me  would 
compel  me  to  abandon  the  writing  of  my  final  Report, 


JET.  36.]          FATE  OF  THE  SURVEY.  183 

upon  which  at  that  time  I  designed  to  be  exclusively 
engaged.  Indeed,  without  the  assistance  of  the  corps 
in  the  laboratory  and  at  the  drawing-table,  and  in  ar- 
ranging the  cabinet,  during  the  whole  of  next  winter 
until  the  expiration  of  the  geological  year,  I  should 
feel  incompetent  to  perform  the  task  of  drawing  up 
my  Report  without  great  additional  delay. 

As  I  imagine  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Legislature 
to  continue  the  appropriation  for  another  year,  I  hope 
that  the  bill  recently  passed  may  be  either  so  modified 
or  explained  as  that  it  may  not  cease  in  January  next, 
and  my  assistants  may  be  continued  throughout  the 
winter,  so  as  to  complete  another  geological  year. 

FROM   JUDGE   MAY. 

RICHMOND,  March  16, 1841. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  Yours  of  the  13th  was  received  this 
evening  only.  The  appropriation  bill  is  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  and  probably  now  of 
the  Senate.  If  I  had  not  offered  the  order  in  the  form 
in  which  it  is,  one  for  an  immediate  repeal  of  your  law 
would  have  been  offered  and  carried.  Even  after  it 
was  engrossed,  when  the  House  for  the  first  time  per- 
ceived its  true  character,  there  was  a  motion  and  a 
large  vote  to  reconsider  it,  in  order  to  strike  out  the 
words  "  from  the  1st  of  January  next,"  so  as  to  make 
the  repeal  forthwith.  If  the  work  be  nearly  completed 
by  the  1st  of  December  next,  the  next  Legislature 
might  perhaps  make  some  further  appropriation  for 
its  completion,  but  nothing  can  be  done  in  favour  of 
it  at  this  session. 

In  great  haste,  I  am,  dear  sir, 

Very  much  yours, 

J.  F.  MAT. 

With  this  state  of  affairs  and  the  slender  hope  of 
a  continuance  of  the  survey  as  a  result  of  an  appeal 
to  the  next  Legislature,  Professor  Eogers  had  to  be 
content. 


184      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1841. 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OP  VIRGINIA,  March  22, 1841. 
MY  DEAR  HENRY,  ...  In  regard  to  my  survey, 
I  think  I  told  you  in  yesterday's  letter  that  I  have  but 
small  hope  of  procuring  any  further  appropriation.  I 
think,  therefore,  I  shall  call  in  my  assistants  early  in 
the  fall,  say  the  middle  of  September,  and  give  them 
work  to  do  in  the  laboratory  and  among  the  minerals. 
But  on  these  points  I  wish  to  consult  you. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  2, 1841. 

.  .  .  By  the  10th  of  this  month  my  corps  is  to  mus- 
ter at  the  University,  and  by  the  15th  I  hope  all  will 
be  in  the  field.  Slade,  Briggs  and  Bidgway  will 
remain,  but  I  am  very  doubtful  in  regard  to  Samuel 
Lewis.  .  .  . 

I  find  that  my  Infusorial  stratum  is  growing  more 
and  more  important.  It  forms  a  heavy  bed  in  the 
Stratford  Cliffs  on  the  Potomac,  where,  however,  it 
is  far  less  pure  than  on  the  Bappahannock  or  near 
Bichmond.  The  finer  and  purer  mass  is  a  first-rate 
polishing  material,  equal  to  rottenstone.  You  will  see 
some  account  of  it  in  my  Beport  for  this  winter,  of 
which  I  send  you  several  copies  by  Mr.  Briggs.  .  .  . 
Should  you  attend  the  meeting  (of  the  Geologists  and 
Naturalists),  if  you  think  it  worth  while  you  might 
mention  my  discovery  of  the  infusory  stratum  in  the 
Tertiary,  and  the  other  curious  fact  of  the  absence  of 
potash  from  the  ashes  not  only  of  coals  but  lignite 
and  mineral  charcoal. 

The  Second  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Association  of 
American  Geologists  and  Naturalists  was  held  April 
5-10,  1841,  at  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  in 
Philadelphia.  In  the  absence  of  the  chairman,  Pro- 
fessor Silliman  of  Yale,  Professor  Henry  Bogers 
presided  at  the  opening  session.  The  official  report 


2Er.  36.]    SECOND  MEETING  OF  GEOLOGISTS.    185 

of  the  proceedings  may  be  found  in  the  "Transac- 
tions" of  the  Association,  pp.  11-41. 


FROM   HIS   BROTHER   JAMES. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  10, 1841. 

...  I  can  only  say  one  word  respecting  the  meet- 
ing of  geologists.  It  was  pretty  fully  attended,  and 
its  deliberations  were  conducted  with  much  spirit  and 
were  highly  interesting.  .  .  . 

You  can  well  understand  how  pleased  I  am  to  have 
it  in  my  power  to  inform  you  that  I  have  not  been 
altogether  neglected,  but  that  a  few  days  ago  the 
Faculty  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  most 
prompt  and  complimentary  manner,  appointed  me 
Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Summer  Institute,  and 
Robert  as  my  assistant.  This  place,  you  recollect, 
was  occupied  by  Mitchell.  .  .  .  We  regard  the  position 
as  a  highly  favourable  one,  as  it  places  us  in  the  best  pos- 
sible road  to  something  better  here,  and  associates  us 
with  such  men  as  Jackson,  Chapman,  Horner,  Hodge, 
Ball  and  Hare,  and  makes  me  Hare's  representative 
during  the  summer,  in  fact  identifying  us  with  the 
interests  and  character  of  the  University.  In  a  pecu- 
niary point  of  view,  it  can  prove  but  little  serviceable 
the  present  year,  as  I  believe  the  class  does  not  num- 
ber more  than  thirty  or  forty.  But  all  connected  with 
it  are  devoted  to  its  success  as  the  child  of  the  Uni- 
versity, and  assure  me  that  next  summer  the  class  can 
be  made  to  reach  one  hundred.  .  .  . 


WILLIAM   TO   ROBERT. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  14,  1841. 
MY  DEAR  ROBERT,  —  Your  letter  was  read  by 
myself  and  uncle  at  tea  this  evening  with  a  relish 
I  cannot  describe.  How  truly  does  my  heart  re- 
joice at  the  opening  now  afforded  to  James  and 
you !  .  .  .  There  are  several  important  subjects  in  a 


186      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1841. 

chemical  course  which  I  think  are  generally  passed 
over  for  want  of  simple  and  accurate  methods  of 
exposition.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the 
computation  of  the  specific  gravities  of  the  compound 
gases;  the  calculation  of  the  quantity  of  vapour  in 
air  or  a  gas  under  given  circumstances  of  tempera- 
ture, pressure,  etc. ;  the  laws  of  atmospheric  pres- 
sure ;  and  in  fact  most  of  the  exact  subjects  relating 
to  general  physics.  I  think  no  chemical  course  in 
a  medical  school  ought  to  dispense  with  an  exposi- 
tion of  the  fundamental  principles  of  mechanics  and 
hydrostatics,  although  they  are  scarcely  ever  referred 
to.  Undoubtedly  they  are  of  more  importance  to  the 
physician  than  magnetics,  electro-magnetism,  much  of 
electricity,  and  the  theory  of  chemical  forces,  as  well 
as  a  great  deal  of  what  is  treated  under  the  head  of 
caloric  or  thermotics.  This  year,  perhaps,  it  would 
be  too  late  to  make  any  innovation  in  this  respect; 
but  I  would  certainly  recommend  hereafter,  as  add- 
ing interest  and  value  to  the  course,  the  introduction 
of  a  few  lectures  on  these  important  principles  in 
mechanical  science.  When  I  go  on  in  the  summer, 
if  you  ask  me,  I  will  give  your  class  two  or  three  lec- 
tures of  this  kind,  embracing  such  topics  as  are  pro- 
fessionally most  useful. 


TO   HIS  BROTHER  JAMES. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  18,  1841. 
...  I  have  been  greatly  occupied  for  the  last  two 
days  in  looking  over  the  papers  handed  in  at  our 
English  examination,  and,  together  with  Dr.  Harrison 
and  Professor  Howard,  was  engaged  in  the  comple- 
tion of  this  troublesome  task  until  eleven  o'clock  last 
night  .  .  .  Our  English  examination  embraced  seventy 
students,  of  whom  twenty-nine  failed  to  pass  for  want 
of  a  moderate  acquaintance  with  spelling  and  gram- 
mar. Of  those  unsuccessful,  five  or  six  are  candidates 
in  the  medical  school. 


^T.  36.]  INFUSORIAL  EARTH.  187 

FROM  HIS  BROTHER  HENRY. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Sunday,  April  18,  1841. 
.  .  .  James  delivered  his  introductory  on  Friday 
last.  It  was  really  very  fine,  mostly  extemporaneous  ; 
the  best  part,  indeed,  was  entirely  so.  He  will  very 
soon  win  for  himself  the  reputation  of  being  the  best 
lecturer  in  the  city.  .  .  . 

The  following  concerning  Professor  Rogers's  dis- 
covery of  "  infusorial  earth,"  already  referred  to 
(pp.  174,  184),  is  from  the  well-known  microscopist, 
Professor  J.  W.  Bailey,  of  the  United  States  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point :  — 

WEST  POINT,  April  25, 1841. 

DEAR  SIR, —  Please  accept  my  thanks  for  your 
Report  for  1840,  and  my  hearty  congratulations  on 
your  important  discovery  of  the  Infusorial  Stratum. 
This  discovery  may  justly  be  considered  as  the  most 
interesting  which  has  been  made  in  the  country  for  a 
long  time,  and  I  can  fully  sympathize  with  you  in  the 
joy  you  must  have  experienced  in  making  it.  I  feel 
some  private  pleasure  in  the  discovery,  as  it  confirms  a 
prediction  I  ventured  to  make  (in  an  article  on  fossil 
infusoria,  published  in  Hitchcock's  final  Report  for 
Massachusetts),  "that,  as  we  have  vast  quantities 
of  living  marine  species  of  silicious  infusoria  upon 
our  seacoast,  it  is  probable  that  they  may  be  found 
abundant  in  our  tertiary  deposits  when  properly  ex- 
amined." It  had  long  been  my  desire  to  have  an 
opportunity  to  visit  a  tertiary  region  of  the  United 
States  to  look  for  these  things,  but  you  can  well  un- 
derstand that  a  professor  of  chemistry,  mineralogy 
and  geology,  who  has  to  hear  two  sections  a  day  ten 
months  in  the  year,  has  little  time  for  original  re- 
search. So  the  prize  of  discovery  has  fallen  to  other 
and  far  more  worthy  hands,  and  I  rejoice  with  you  at 
the  good  fortune  you  have  had.  .  .  . 


188      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1841. 

A  paper  by  Professor  Bailey,  giving  many  refer- 
ences to  the  Virginia  infusoria  discovered  by  Mr. 
Rogers,  afterwards  appeared  in  the  "  Transactions  of 
the  Association  of  American  Geologists  and  Natural- 
ists," 1840-42. 

FROM   ROBERT   TO   HENRY   AT   HARRISBURG. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  28, 1841. 

We  have  no  news  since  I  last  wrote.  James  is 
even  improving  in  his  lectures,  if  there  were  room  for 
improvement.  The  students  appreciate  his  enthu- 
siasm and  clearness.  I  am  sure  it  is  the  shortest  hour 
of  learning  they  have  in  the  twenty-four.  I  could 
not  but  remark  the  other  day  the  strong  expression 
of  satisfaction  upon  all  their  countenances  as  he  fin- 
ished his  explanation  of  electric  attraction.  I  am 
looking  with  anxiety  to  the  action  of  the  Senate  [re- 
garding the  Geological  Survey  of  Pennsylvania].  .  .  . 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS   BROTHERS. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  May  1, 1841. 
MY  DEAR  BROTHERS,  —  I  am  delighted  to  hear 
that  James  is  so  rapidly  winning  his  way  to  fame  as 
a  lecturer,  and  I  doubt  not,  my  dear  Robert,  that  you 
will  find  the  task  easy  and  pleasant.  You  ought  to 
have  an  ample  blackboard,  or  other  equivalent  space, 
for  chemical  formulae  and  drawings.  I  presume  you 
will  make  use  of  brief  heads  of  your  lectures  as  re- 
minders. Do  not  attempt  to  crowd  too  much  in 
a  single  lecture,  and  avoid  the  common  error  of  ex- 
perimenting for  the  eye  and  not  for  the  understand- 
ing. Every  experiment  ought  to  be  accompanied  by 
a  full  and  clear  explanation,  and  this  cannot  be  ren- 
dered too  explicit  and  elementary.  Cultivate  a  delib- 
erate and  distinct  enunciation  without  sacrificing  earn- 
estness and  animation  of  manner.  Above  all,  do  not 
attempt  to  be  over  choice  in  your  phraseology,  but 


-SJr.36.]  ON  PUBLIC  SPEAKING.  189 

use  the  language  suggested  at  the  moment.  I  believe 
that  many  an  one  has  failed  in  making  an  interesting 
speaker  from  being  thus  fastidious  at  the  beginning. 
There  is  nothing  in  which  habits  are  sooner  formed 
and  more  difficult  to  remove  than  public  speaking. 
In  my  view,  the  very  first  thing  to  be  sought  is  a  feel- 
ing of  ease  and  confidence,  and  this,  when  the  subject 
is  thoroughly  understood,  you  cannot  fail  to  secure  at 
the  outset  by  giving  play  to  some  enthusiasm,  and,  as 
Rutledge  advised,  "  speaking  right  on,"  even  though 
at  times  your  phrase  may  be  obscure,  inelegant  or 
even  incorrect.  But  I  need  not  give  you  counsel,  as  I 
know  you  will  soon  learn  to  satisfy  yourself,  and  that 
will  be  your  best  criterion  of  success.  As  you  are 
now  commencing  a  career  in  which  you  may  expect 
to  be  professionally  engaged  (I  hope  hereafter  in  a 
more  productive  sphere)  for  many  years  and  perhaps 
for  life,  it  will  be  well,  as  soon  as  you  have  leisure,  to 
devote  some  time  systematically  to  a  course  of  general 
as  well  as  chemical  reading.  I  think  we  have  all  of 
us  erred  in  reading  too  little,  though  for  the  most 
part  this  has  been  in  consequence  of  our  engrossing 
and  laborious  pursuits.  The  highest  eminence  as  a 
lecturer  cannot  be  attained  without  a  general  culture 
of  mind. 

I  am  anxious  to  learn  the  results  of  Forbes's  ob- 
servations on  internal  heat  as  detailed  to  the  last 
British  Association,  and  I  believe  reported  in  a  con- 
densed form  in  the  "London  Athenaeum."  I  wish 
one  of  you  would  examine  that,  or  any  other  full 
account  you  can  find  of  the  proceedings,  and  give  me 
an  abstract  of  the  numerical  results,  if  they  are  an- 
nounced. .  .  . 

The  fate  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Pennsylvania 
was  still  uncertain  :  — 


190      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.     [1841. 


FROM   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

HAKRISBUKG,  April. 25,  1841. 

MY  DEAR  WILLIAM,  —  To  give  you  some  idea  of 
the  tribunal  to  which  I  have  to  bow,  one  Senator,  who 
a  few  days  ago  told  me  the  survey  ought  by  all  means 
to  be  finished,  uttered  himself  thus :  "  Mr.  Speaker,  I 
shall  vote  against  this  appropriation,  on  the  ground  of 
its  unfairness  to  other  sciences  of  like  nature  with 
this  geology.  The  bill,  sir,  makes  no  provision  for 
phrenology,  physiognomy,  animal  magnetism,  and 
the  highly  important  science  of  water-smelling ;  it  is 
partial,  and  I  will  vote  against  it."  This  was  his 
whole  speech.  I  anticipate  a  long  debate  to-morrow, 
but  the  chances  are  in  my  favour.  If  it  is  annexed 
to  the  big  bill  in  the  Senate  to-morrow,  there  is  but 
little  doubt  of  its  becoming  a  law. 

I  forgot  to  mention  Mr.  Boye  as  one  of  my  assist- 
ants, who  would  most  gladly  enter  your  corps.  .  .  . 

Think  not,  my  dear  William,  that  being  indolent 
with  my  pen,  I  am  not  constantly  by  your  side  in  my 
thoughts.  As  I  travel,  though  behind  you,  the  same 
path  of  care,  I  grow  daily  more  convinced  of  the  ex- 
tent and  worth  of  your  sacrifices  and  undeviating  love 
for  your  brothers. 

HAKBISBUKG,  May  4,  1841. 

After  many  fluctuations  of  anxious  hope,  I  am  at 
last  relieved  by  the  final  passage  of  the  bill  embrac- 
ing the  provision  for  completing  the  survey.  The 
whole  revenue  bill  had  been  vetoed  by  the  Governor, 
but  has  passed  each  House  by  the  constitutional  ma- 
jority of  two  thirds,  as  the  papers  will  show  you.  I 
am  now  ready  to  go  home  and  engage  my  thought 
once  more  upon  my  professional  business.  ...  It  re- 
joices me  to  think  that  we  may  yet  complete  our  sur- 
veys. I  shall  now  have  leisure  and  spirit  to  give  you 
my  aid  during  the  next  eighteen  months  in  bringing 
out  your  final  Report,  if  you  desire  assistance.  .  .  . 


#T.  36.]  ARRIVAL   OF  LYELL.  191 

The  session  at  the  University  of  Virginia  ended  un- 
eventfully, and  the  summer  appears  to  have  been  spent 
to  a  large  extent  in  geological  excursions  to  Canada, 
New  York  and  New  England,  as  the  following  letter 
indicates  :  — 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS   UNCLE   JAMES. 

HUDSON,  N.  Y.,  August  20, 1841. 

I  have  travelled  so  far,  seen  so  many  sights  in 
New  York,  Canada,  etc.,  that  I  cannot  think,  even  did 
time  permit,  to  enter  upon  a  sketch  of  our  movements. 
Henry,  who  made  a  rapid  trip  to  Philadelphia,  joined 
me  at  Albany  yesterday,  and  brought  me  the  letters 
you  so  kindly  forwarded  as  well  as  your  own.  .  .  . 

Lyell,  the  geologist,  arrived  in  this  country  a  few 
days  ago,  and  we  met  with  him  this  morning  in 
Albany.  He  is  at  present  in  the  keeping  of  some  of 
the  New  York  geologists,  but  will  be  in  Philadelphia 
with  Henry,  and  in  Virginia  with  me,  in  the  autumn. 

Robert,  who  made  a  short  trip  with  us  to  the  West 
as  far  as  Niagara,  is  in  Philadelphia,  and  quite  well. 
James  had  not  returned  from  Virginia  when  Henry 
left  Philadelphia,  but  had  been  lately  heard  from  by 
his  family,  and  was  well.  The  letters  from  my  assist- 
ants were  all  satisfactory,  and  relieved  me  of  much 
anxiety  which  I  had  begun  to  feel.  ...  I  have  not 
been  much  upon  the  highways,  and  have  not  met  a 
soul  whom  I  knew  from  the  South  in  all  my  ramblings. 

You  see  John  Tyler  has  been  true  to  his  old  prin- 
ciples, but  the  veto l  is  producing  a  wonderful  hubbub 
in  New  York.  In  the  main,  I  think  it  will  render  the 
President  more  popular  than  before.  .  .  . 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   ROBERT. 

UNIVERSITY  OP  VIRGINIA,  September  11, 1841. 
.  .  .  Since  my   summer's  rambles  with   Henry  I 
have  been  unable  to  shut  out  the  contrast   between 

1  Of  a  bill  to  incorporate  a  national  bank. 


192      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1841. 

the  region  in  which  I  live  and  the  highly  cultivated 
nature  and  society  of  glorious  New  England.  I  have, 
therefore,  felt  less  than  usual  the  pleasure  of  return- 
ing to  my  home.  I  have  been  mortified  and  provoked, 
too,  at  finding  so  much  illiberality  among  a  portion 
of  the  community  here  on  the  subject  of  religion,  as 
displayed  in  the  bigoted  publications  which  appeared 
during  the  summer  respecting  the  appointments  of 
Sylvester  and  Kraitzer.  Would  you  believe  it,  that  a 
series  of  essays  has  been  published  condemning  the 
Visitors  for  the  appointment  of  a  Jew  and  a  Catholic, 
and  sweeping  charges  at  the  same  time  made  against 
the  character,  literary  as  well  as  moral,  of  the  Uni- 
versity !  These  have  been  chiefly  published  by  two 
of  the  religious  papers,  but  have  not  passed  without 
eliciting  the  sympathy  of  some  of  the  other  prints, 
though  in  the  main  condemned  by  them.  .  .  . 

By  recent  accounts  from  Sylvester,1  we  learn  that  he 
will  not  leave  England  until  the  middle  of  October,  and 
will,  therefore,  not  assume  his  duties  here  until  early 
in  November.  This  I  most  deeply  regret,  for  I  fear  it 
may  prevent  my  absenting  myself  during  October. 
Such  long  and  serious  interruptions  have  occurred  of 
late  years  in  the  studies  of  the  students  that  they  are 
beginning  to  complain.  But  do  not  suppose  I  have 
given  up  the  intention  of  being  absent  in  October. 
...  I  have  had  a  long  conversation  with  Jefferson 
Randolph  to-day,  who  says  that  he  does  not  think 
the  University  will  be  injured  by  the  fanatical  publi- 
cations referred  to.  He  and  the  professors  are  in 
good  spirits  as  to  our  prospects,  though  they  do  not 
expect  a  class  of  more  than  two  hundred  this  year. 
I  trust  that  in  another  year  better  times  will  favour 
all  our  plans,  and  I  do  most  ardently  desire,  my  dear 
brothers,  that  we  should  all  cultivate  a  spirit  of  cheer- 
ful confidence  in  the  future.  .  .  . 

1  J.  J.  Sylvester,  English  mathematician,  afterwards  Professor  in 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  and  finally  in  Oxford. 


.  37.]  CHARLES  LYELL.  193 


FROM  MB.  (AFTERWARDS  SIR)  CHARLES  LYELL  TO  PRO- 
FESSOR HENRY  D.   ROGERS. 

SCHOHARIE,  N.  Y.,  September  19,  1841. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  As  I  promised  to  let  you  know 
something  of  my  movements  before  I  reached  Phila- 
delphia, I  now  write  to  say  that  I  hope  to  be  there 
to  spend  five  or  six  days  with  Mr.  Conrad  about  the 
24th  inst.,  and  if  about  the  last  day  or  two  of  this 
month  I  could  join  you,  and  find  you  at  leisure  to  start 
me,  at  least,  on  a  tour  of  ten  days,  so  as  to  see  some 
good  section  of  Pennsylvania,  I  should  be  very  glad. 
I  ought  to  see  the  higher  grounds  as  much  as  possible, 
because  I  might  attack  the  less  elevated  ones  in  De- 
cember after  the  snow  is  on  your  mountains.  I  must 
be  at  Boston  on  the  13th  of  October,  and  hope  to  be 
fairly  in  the  field  again  the  beginning  of  December, 
after  giving  some  lectures,  which  perhaps  you  may 
have  heard  I  promised  to  deliver  at  the  Lowell  In- 
stitute. I  am  much  pleased  with  what  I  have  seen 
of  your  geology  in  the  Blossburg  coal  down  to  the 
sandstone  below  the  Trenton  limestone.  Certainly, 
the  history  of  things  which  preceded  the  Coal  and 
Old  Red  is  far  more  fully  written  here  than  in  Eu- 
rope, and  it  will  take  years  before  justice  can  be  done 
to  it. 

Have  the  goodness  to  let  me  find  a  letter  from 
you  at  the  post-office,  Philadelphia,  to  say  when  and 
where  we  could  meet  after  the  29th  of  September. 
Believe  me,  my  dear  sir, 

Ever  most  truly  yours, 

CHAS.  LYELL. 


WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  October  3,  1841. 
...  I  entirely  concur  with  you  in  the  plan  of  your 
proposed  journey  and  your  scientific  intercourse  with 
Mr.  Lyell.    My  own  reflections  for  a  week  past  on 


194      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1841. 

this  subject  have  impressed  me  with  the  importance 
of  securing  his  good  will,  and  if  possible  his  friend- 
ship, by  showing  to  him  the  high  philosophical  import 
of  our  labours,  and  informing  him  frankly  of  all  our 
scientific  plans.  I  also  feel  as  much  or  more  than 
ever,  the  necessity  of  devoting  some  time  this  fall  to 
the  preparation  of  a  memoir  setting  forth  our  leading 
views  and  discoveries,  and  am  determined,  if  possible, 
to  join  you  in  Philadelphia  for  that  purpose.  ...  I 
confess  I  have  been  pained  at  the  smallness  of  my 
class,  but  this  has  now  ceased  to  give  me  concern.  No 
students  have  arrived  for  ten  days  past  save  two  or 
three  in  the  professional  schools,  so  that  I  remain  in 
statu  quo,  being  still  below  forty.  .  .  . 

My  great  cause  of  concern  in  regard  to  this  year's 
classes  is  produced  by  my  wish  to  have  command  of 
funds  for  our  common  purposes.  From  present  pros- 
pects I  am  likely  to  fall  short  by  f  1,000  of  my  usual 
income  from  the  University.  .  .  . 


FROM  HIS  BROTHER  HENRY. 

PHILADELPHIA,  October  13, 1841. 

MY  DEAR  WILLIAM,  ...  I  returned  to  town  yes- 
terday after  a  tour  of  eleven  days  with  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Lyell  and  Mcllvaine.  We  went  by  the  way  of 
Reading  to  Pottsville,  Mauch  Chunk  and  Beaver 
Meadows,  returning  by  Easton  and  the  Delaware, 
through  Trenton.  If  Lyell  has  been  half  as  well 
pleased  and  satisfied  with  me  as  Mcllvaine  and  I 
have  been  with  him  and  his  accomplished  wife,  I  shall 
congratulate  myself.  I  deem  him  a  man  quite  too 
high-minded  to  encroach  on  the  literary  rights  of 
others,  and  have  many  kindly  feelings  toward  him  for 
the  friendly  interest  he  has  shown  in  our  future  scien- 
tific progress.  Lyell  came  over  at  the  invitation  of 
Mr.  Lowell,  and  intended  to  return  in  December,  but 
now  means  to  remain  a  year.  This  of  itself  shows 
how  much  our  geology,  and  of  course  the  exploring 


.ET.  37.]  GEOLOGY.  195 

of  it,  can  interest  the  Europeans.  His  plan  is  to  go 
South  through  the  Tertiary  after  his  course  of  lec- 
tures, and  in  April  to  return  North  and  proceed  at 
once  to  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  will  be 
at  work  until  July.  One  grand  object  with  him  will 
be  a  comparison  of  our  Atlantic  Tertiary  with  the 
European,  to  test  the  applicability  of  his  nomenclature 
to  this  country.  Having  seen  so  much  of  the  Tertiary 
of  Europe,  spending  one  entire  summer  in  the  Crag 
of  England  and  all  last  summer  in  the  South  of 
France,  he  is  perhaps,  of  all  the  English  geologists, 
the  best  fitted  to  establish  the  true  relationship  of  our 
tertiary  beds  to  those  of  the  old  hemisphere.  To  this 
delightful  task  Conrad  has  shown  himself  unfitted  by 
his  preference  of  the  closet  to  the  field.  It  will  gratify 
you  to  hear  that  Lyell  already  pronounces  the  beds 
we  have  always  named  Miocene  to  be  truly  such. 
After  his  return  to  Europe  he  will  probably  read  a 
paper  on  this  whole  subject,  and  I  gather  has  an  in- 
tention of  reading  a  memoir  also  on  the  Geology  of 
Canada  and  Nova  Scotia.  Speaking  of  the  latter,  he 
expressly  told  me  he  would  avoid  describing  the  or- 
ganic remains  which  might  be  common  to  the  New 
York  lower  rocks  until  Conrad's  labours  were  pub- 
lished, unless,  indeed,  these  were  so  delayed  as  to  im- 
pede the  progress  unnecessarily  of  all  research.  .  .  . 
Lyell  thinks  there  is  a  close  and  even  remarkable  re- 
lationship between  the  silurian  and  our  Appalachian 
fossils ;  also  between  the  coal  formations  of  the  two 
countries.  Now,  as  to  the  gradations  from  the  silurian 
fossils  into  the  coal  fossils,  —  perhaps  the  most  inter- 
esting problem  of  all,  —  we  may  take  this,  if  we  are 
diligent,  into  our  own  hands  by  collecting  largely 
from  the  marine  limestones  of  our  Western  coal-fields, 
and  from  the  silurian  beds  in  For.  XI.  and  that  por- 
tion of  the  series.  In  order  to  do  this,  Lyell  recom- 
mends us  to  procure  the  new  work  just  published  by 
Phillips  on  the  Devonian  fossils,  in  which  he  has  been 
aided  by  the  English  government.  Having  Murchison 


106      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1841. 

on  the  Silurian  and  Phillies  on  the  Mountain  Lime- 
stone, we  have  only  to  procure  this  last  and  collect 
largely  and  we  shall  have  the  whole  subject  before 
us.  ... 

PHILADELPHIA,  October  16,  1841. 

MY  DEAR  WILLIAM,  —  I  entertain  a  strong  hope 
of  seeing  you  in  a  little  more  than  a  week.  With 
what  we  have  to  guide  us  in  the  way  of  specimens,  we 
may  succeed  in  determining  the  true  paleontological 
relations  of  For.  XI.  This  once  done,  we  shall,  I 
think,  be  prepared  to  attempt  a  subdividing  of  our 
eleven  marine  formations.  What  think  you  of  the 
following  classification  ?  l  — 

Call  all  our  rocks  below  the  bottom  of  XII.  the 
Appalachian  System.  Make  a  triple  subdivision  of 
these  thus  :  from  the  bottom  of  For.  I.  to  the  top  of 
V.  one  group  or  series  ;  from  the  top  of  V.  to  the  top 
of  VIII.  an  other ;  and  from  the  top  of  VIII.  to  the  top 
of  XI.  the  third ;  designating  the  first  by  some  Greek 
compound,  —  the  Appalachian  morning,  the  second 
the  midday,  the  third  the  evening.  According  to  this 
scheme,  the  morning  of  the  Appalachian  epoch  would 
coincide  almost  precisely  with  Conrad's  lower  Silurian 
series  ;  the  Appalachian  midday  with  his  Middle  and 
Upper  Silurian  series  (for  he  terminates  the  upper 
with  the  top  of  the  olive  slate,  For.  VIII.) ;  and  the 
Appalachian  evening  would  embrace  the  Devonian 
period,  and  perhaps  a  great  part,  or  all  of  the  moun- 
tain limestone,  or  marine  carboniferous.  Now  my 
chief  hesitation  is  in  regard  to  cutting  off  For.  XI. 
from  the  coal  measures  so  abruptly ;  and  yet,  as  the 
latter  are  chiefly  terrestrial  and  all  our  eleven  lower 
rocks  are  marine,  it  seems  proper  enough  for  purposes 
of  classification.  By  this  plan  we  can  find  a  designa- 
tion for  each  of  our  formations  exempt  from  the  dif- 
ficulties of  either  numerical  or  geographical  reason- 
ing. What  think  you,  then,  of  attempting,  with  the 

1  For  a  note  on  the  geological  nomenclature  and  classification 
adopted  by  the  brothers,  see  Appendix  to  vol.  ii. 


£fr.  37.]  GEOLOGY.  197 

assistance  of  Dr.  Harrison,  to  compound  three  words 
equivalent  to  "  morning  of  day  "  before  the  coal,  or 
simply  "  ancient  morning,"  etc.  ? 

I  have  now  by  me  all  the  late  parts  of  "  Geological 
Transactions  of  London,"  in  which  are  some  good  fig- 
ures of  Devonian  fossils.  I  think  in  the  space  of  one 
year,  with  proper  method,  we  can  conquer  this  whole 
subject.  In  the  meanwhile,  if  we  deem  it  inexpedient 
to  commit  ourselves  to  a  nomenclature  before  studying 
our  fossils  better,  we  have  plenty  to  do  with  our  pens 
at  the  grand  dynamic  questions  of  our  geology.  I  did 
not  state  in  my  last  how  greatly  I  astonished  Lyell  at 
the  breadth  of  some  of  our  results  and  doctrines  con- 
nected with  structure.  Though  incredulous  for  the 
first  day  or  two,  even  as  to  the  thickness  of  our  rock, 
I  quite  made  a  convert  of  him  before  we  parted. 

Collect  your  recollections  and  notes  in  regard  to 
slaty  cleavage ;  for  as  a  part  of  structure  we  ought  to 
treat  of  it,  and  I  think  we  can  do  it  in  a  manner 
to  make  even  Sedgwick  consent  to  become  a  learner. 
For  example,  I  see  in  this  State  no  exception  to  this 
law,  that  the  cleavage  planes  have  a  dip  and  strike 
closely  coincident  with  what  I  want  termed  the  anti- 
clinal and  synclinal  planes,  the  deviation  being  some 
coefficient  of  the  resistant  to  the  cleaving  presented 
by  the  stratification  of  the  rocks.  .  .  . 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

HENRY  D.  ROGERS. 

PHILADELPHIA,  October  22, 1841. 

.  .  .  With  less  than  a  month  at  our  disposal  we 
can  hardly  perfect  a  memoir  so  as  to  be  ready  for 
the  press,  and  I  think  that  whatever  we  do  now  we 
ought  to  do  well,  cost  what  time  it  may.  It  is  my 
firm  resolve  to  occupy  two  years  on  my  final  Report  if 
necessary,  rather  than  further  impair  my  health,  or  let 
my  six  years  of  toil  in  the  field  tell  for  nothing.  I 
shall,  therefore,  ask  nothing  this  winter  of  the  Legis- 
lature in  aid  of  publication,  but  report  myself  as  hav- 
ing begun  my  final  report.  This  I  can  present  nearly 


198      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.     [1841. 

ready  in  January,  1843,  and  while  it  is  going  through 
the  press  employ  a  few  more  months  upon  it.  The 
public  will  be  better  satisfied  in  the  end,  and  it  is  for 
the  end  we  ought  to  exert  ourselves.  I  hope  you  will 
prevail  on  your  Governor  to  make  fit  allusion  to 
your  survey  ;  but  have  a  care  that  he  does  not  commit 
you  by  promises  in  your  name,  as  I  was  treated  by 
Governor  Pennington,  of  New  Jersey. 

I  am,  at  a  moderate  rate  of  diligence,  setting  my 
house  to  rights ;  that  is,  opening  the  specimens  you 
and  I  gathered  and  placing  them  temporarily  in 
drawers,  thus  saving  you  two  or  three  entire  days 
when  you  come.  Opening  the  things  you  got  at  Scho- 
harie,  I  readily  understand  your  exultation  at  getting 
such  a  prize.  In  truth,  our  summer's  work  tells  well, 
even  in  the  way  of  specimens,  when  one  reflects  upon 
the  quarters  from  whence  they  are  derived. 

We  shall  be  able  to  set  in  a  clear  light  some  essen- 
tial points  in  the  Lake  Erie  geology,  but  to  adjust  the 
whole  of  the  Western  stratification  is  not  for  us  to  at- 
tempt yet.  Hall  will  probably  try  it.  From  what 
Lyell  told  me  I  looked  to  see  a  paper  from  Hall  in  the 
October  number  of  Silliman.  We  shall  probably  see 
his  conclusions  in  the  January  number.  He  says  that 
Niagara  limestone  expands  westward  until  it  becomes 
in  Iowa  twelve  hundred  feet  thick.  If  he  has  gone 
much  by  the  organic  remains,  there  will  be  much  for 
others  to  revise  in  his  work  before  many  years  ;  but 
let  us  await  patiently  his  paper.  The  establishment  of 
the  true  order  of  succession  of  organic  remains  of  the 
Appalachian  rocks  will  be  a  work  of  years  and  by  many 
hands,  and  none  will  come  to  sound  results  but  those 
that  go  upon  an  independent  stratigraphical  basis. 
You  will  be  cheered  and  delighted,  when  you  read  the 
proceedings  of  the  British  Association  at  Plymouth,  to 
notice  the  views  of  Phillips  and  especially  of  Sedgwick 
on  this  subject.  We  are  on  safe  ground,  and  shall 
have  the  support  of  the  best  of  the  European  geolo- 
gists in  defence  of  our  methods  of  research.  Lyell  is 


JEr.37.]  NOMENCLATURE.  199 

rather  too  much  for  identification  by  organic  remains, 
but  he  also  would  admit  us  to  be  right  if  we  were  to 
set  forth  our  whole  opinions  in  a  clearly  reasoned 
paper.  But  it  is  in  the  department  of  dynamic  geology 
that,  being  foremost,  we  ought  to  be  especially  prompt 
in  publishing.  Reading  Darwin  on  volcanic  phenom- 
ena in  the  Andes  in  "  Geological  Transactions,"  I  have 
been  particularly  struck  with  confirmatory  evidence 
of  the  soundness  of  our  idea  of  a  pulsation  having 
caused  anticlinal  axes.  I  am  sure  the  doctrine  will 
meet  with  acceptance.  .  .  . 

PHILADELPHIA,  October  29, 1841. 

MY  DEAR  WILLIAM,  .  .  .  The  grand  point  to 
establish  at  the  very  outset  is  our  nomenclature,  and 
to  render  this  acceptable,  I  know  we  ought  to  be  very 
sure  of  our  ground  in  the  grouping  of  the  formations. 
A  slight  readjustment  of  the  groups  need  not  mar  the 
permanency  of  the  classification. 

I  am  now  strongly  inclined  to  a  five-fold  division, 
there  being  as  gradual  a  passage  into  the  coal  period 
as  into  that  of  any  of  the  other  groups.  Two  periods 
are  wanted,  I  think,  for  the  rocks  below  the  bottom 
of  VIII.,  —  one  for  those  in  VIII.  and  IX.,  one  for  X., 
Cambrian  limestone,  and  XL,  and  one  for  the  coal 
rocks.  But  instead  of  the  five  names  proposed  by 
Parke,  I  have  another  set  to  suggest  offered  by  Mc- 
Ilvaine.  They  are,  Eoan,  Ante-meridian,  Meridian, 
Post-meridian,  and  Hesperian,  some  of  them  having  an 
analogy  in  origin  to  your  own.  Mcllvaine,  for  whose 
judgment  in  such  matters  I  entertain  a  high  respect, 
advocates  his  own  more  Latin  set  of  terms,  on  the 
ground  of  their  being  not  altogether  strange  to  our 
language,  and  of  their  being  readily  understood  and 
remembered.  I  like  them  myself,  but  wish  to  hold 
the  whole  matter  over  until  you  are  here  to  consult. 
If  we  had  but  taken  the  precaution  to  collect  during 
the  past  season  a  full  suite  of  fossils  from  the  rocks 
above  VEIL,  we  should  have  felt  ourselves  at  this  time 


200      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1841. 

prepared  to  propose  definitely  the  boundaries  for  our 
upper  groups,  and  I  am,  even  as  it  is,  in  hopes  that 
your  own  collection  from  the  Greenbrier  limestone, 
with  the  few  I  have,  may  avail  us  much.  The  organic 
remains  of  the  upper  part  of  VIII.  and  of  IX.  are 
of  still  more  consequence  to  us  as  forming  the  ground- 
work with  Conrad  for  his  American  Devonian.  Please 
bring  with  you  all  fossils  bearing  on  our  researches ; 
we  can  do  much  when  together  in  determining  their 
relations.  Do  not  forget  the  subject  of  cleavage,  and, 
if  you  do  not  find  it  too  troublesome,  put  your  sec- 
tions and  colored  maps  in  your  trunk.  .  .  . 

Anticipating  the   arrival   of   Professor    Sylvester, 
Mr.  Rogers  went  to  Philadelphia  for  a  visit.1 


FROM   JAMES   ROGERS,   ESQ.,   TO   HIS   NEPHEW  WILLIAM. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  November  17,  1841. 
...  I  found  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  dispose 
of  your  gray  geological  horse,  except  at  a  price 
much  below  his  value.  ...  I  am  much  gratified  to 
learn  you  are  all  well,  and  I  can  hardly  express  the 
satisfaction  I  feel  at  James's  success  as  a  lecturer, 
and  have  no  fears  but  erelong  something  more  lucra- 
tive will  present  itself  as  the  reward  of  talent  and 
industry.  .  .  .  For  several  days  we  have  been  anx- 
iously looking  for  the  arrival  of  Professor  Sylvester. 
We  learn  he  lost  all  his  baggage  in  Boston ;  this 
may  have  detained  him.  Perhaps  you  may  have  met 
him  in  Philadelphia  on  his  way  hither.  My  love  to 
all. 

I  am,  dear  William,  your  affectionate  uncle, 
JAMES  ROGERS. 

The   joint  paper  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  let- 
ters was  read  on  December  3, 1841,  before  the  Phi- 

1  The  Chair  of  Mathematics  had  been  filled  by  Mr.  Rogers  since  the 
death  of  Mr.  Bonnycasde. 


^T.  37.]      PROFESSOR  J.  J.  SYLVESTER.  201 

losophical  Society  of  Philadelphia,  and  is  entitled, 
"  Observations  on  the  Geology  of  Western  Peninsula 
of  Upper  Canada  and  the  Western  Part  of  Ohio.  By 
William  B.  Rogers,  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy 
in  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  Henry  D.  Rogers, 
Professor  of  Geology  in  the  University  of  Penusyl- 


WILLIAM   TO   HIS   BROTHERS   IN   PHILADELPHIA. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  December  6,  1841. 

Late  yesterday  evening  I  got  home,  after  a  rather 
uncomfortable  ride.  .  .  .  All  my  colleagues,  except 
Emmet,  are  well,  and  the  faculty,  students  and  others 
attached  to  the  University  are  all  greatly  pleased  with 
Mr.  Sylvester.  He  was  terribly  embarrassed  at  his 
first  lecture,  indeed  quite  overwhelmed,  but  has  been 
doing  better  since.  He  has  a  good  deal  of  hesitation, 
is  not  fluent,  but  is  very  enthusiastic  and  commands 
the  attention  and  interest  of  his  class.  ...  On  Sat- 
urday I  saw  in  Richmond  Mr.  Southall,  Mr.  Lynn 
and  other  members,  who  all  appeared  to  think  that 
the  Legislature  will  accede  to  my  proposition.  I  shall 
to-morrow  set  to  work  to  draw  up  two  or  three  pages 
by  way  of  report,  and  will  send  it  down  by  the  close 
of  the  week.  I  think  that  by  a  strong  representation 
thus  made,  and  by  letters  to  several  influential  mem- 
bers in  both  Houses,  I  shall  be  able  to  secure  my 
object.  .  .  . 

As  I  am  about  to  have  my  sections  all  made  out 
by  Ridgway,  I  write  to  you  to  tell  me  what  scale  we 
fixed  upon  when  we  talked  on  this  subject.  I  have 
forgotten.  .  .  . 

Your  devoted  brother, 

WILLIAM  B.  ROGEES. 


202      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.     [1841. 

FROM   HIS   BROTHER   HEXRY. 

PHILADELPHIA,  December  11,  1841. 

...  I  greatly  interested  him  (Lyell)  by  telling 
him  of  your  discovery  of  the  oolitic  date  of  the  Eich- 
mond  and  Fredericksburg  strata.  The  fishes  which 
he  and  Silliman  lately  got  in  Connecticut  show,  he 
thinks,  an  early  New  Ked  period.  This  agrees  with 
my  doctrine  in  "  New  Jersey  Report,"  that  our  red 
shales  began  directly  after  upheaval  of  the  coal.  Can 
you  not  send  a  sketch  of  your  fish  scales  from  the 
Middle  Secondary  ?  The  Teneopteris  in  Brogniart 
agrees  well  with  your  sketch.  .  .  . 

PHILADELPHIA,  December  13,  1841. 

...  I  am  just  now  working  at  an  abstract  of  our 
paper  for  the  Bulletin,  and  retouching  two  or  three 
pages  of  the  memoir  itself.  On  second  thoughts  I 
felt  I  had  gone  too  far  in  giving  it  as  our  opinion 
that  the  limestone  over  the  pitted  rock  is  the  equiva- 
lent of  the  Onondaga.  I  am  much  more  inclined 
to  regard  it  as  a  new  interpolation,  and  to  view  the 
Onondaga  as  thinning  out  in  Canada  before  we  reach 
Goderich.  This  is  borne  out  by  the  fossils,  which 
are  not  those  of  the  Onondaga  any  more  than  those 
of  For.  VI.  Nor  do  they  appear  to  be  those  of  the 
Seneca  limestone,  though  more  allied.  All  this  is  far 
more  in  accordance  with  our  general  doctrines,  and 
is  the  safest  ground  to  take.  I  have  found  new  evi- 
dence of  the  identity  of  the  Sandusky  and  Goderich 
rocks  in  laying  open  a  part  of  a  trilobite  in  the  latter, 
identical  with  a  tail  you  perhaps  recollect  we  have  in 
the  former.  I  took  several  specimens  to  Conrad,  and 
think  they  are  nearly  all  new  to  him,  and  this  is 
another  inducement  to  modify  somewhat  our  manner 
of  setting  forth  our  notions  of  the  relations  of  the 
Western  rock  to  the  Limestone  at  Buffalo.  .  .  . 

Do  you  not  think  it  our  wisest  course  to  give  our- 
selves first  to  those  chapters  of  the  memoir  which  treat 


JST.  37.]  GEOLOGY.  203 

of  structure  ?  In  this  way,  working  on  with  our  sections 
and  maps  at  the  same  time,  while  our  assistants  are  by 
us ;  we  can  do  the  other  portions  at  a  later  time,  even 
in  the  spring,  if  necessary,  with  the  advantage  of 
seeing  such  publications  as  may  issue  this  winter. 
The  classification,  especially  all  from  For.  VII.  to  For. 
IX.,  is  a  critical  part  of  our  work,  and  we  ought  to 
have  Phillips's  new  book  on  Devonian  fossils  by  us 
first.  It  ought  soon  to  arrive,  two  copies.  Lyell,  who 
has  it,  says  he  thinks,  by  the  analogies  of  the  fossils, 
the  whole  of  our  For.  VIII.  ought  to  go  into  the  Silu- 
rian. He  does  not  know  what  we  are  at.  ... 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   ROBERT. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  December  21, 1841. 

...  I  have  received  a  letter  from  Redfield  in  reply- 
to  some  inquiries^I  wrote  on  the  subject  of  fossil 
fishes.  The  fish  of  the  New  Red  coal  is  very  nearly 
allied  to,  though  not  the  same  as,  one  of  those  in  the 
Middle  Secondary.  It  is  described  in  the  July  num- 
ber of  "  Silliman "  under  the  name  of  Catopterus 
macrurus.  I  incidentally  mention  in  my  present  re- 
port my  belief  that,  while  the  Fredericksburg  sand- 
stone refers  itself  to  the  Oolite  period,  the  Richmond 
coal  appertains  to  that  of  the  Lias.  From  the  occur- 
rence of  the  Posidonomya  in  our  Middle  Secondary, 
I  should  infer  its  being,  at  least  in  part,  quite  late 
in  the  New  Red,  or  about  the  period  of  the  Keuper. 
This  shell,  I  think,  ranges  from  the  Keuper  to  the 
Bunter  sandstone.  I  believe  that  our  shell,  and  that 
figured  by  Lyell  and  Brogniart,  are  identical. 

Lyell  in  his  letter  expressed  a  wish  to  go  with  me 
into  the  Richmond  coal  district  for  a  day  or  two.  .  .  . 

FROM    CHARLES   LYELL,    ESQ. 

CHARLESTON,  S.  CAROLINA,  December  28,  1841. 
MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  Your  letter  was  forwarded  from 
Richmond  to  me  here.     I  took  for  granted,  from  the 


204      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.     [1841. 

non-arrival  of  the  mail  from  Charlottesville  two  suc- 
cessive days,  —  in  consequence,  as  they  told  me  at  the 
post-office,  of  the  snow,  —  that  it  would  be  impossible 
that  we  should  arrange  a  meeting. 

Guided  by  your  Report,  I  collected  sharks'  teeth 
and  casts  of  Crassatella  in  the  Eocene  greensand  of 
Shockoe  Creek;  saw  well  the  infusorial  bed,  and  the 
impressions  of  leaves  and  casts  of  several  shells  in  the 
overlying  sands,  —  Miocene  ?  I  should  have  been  glad 
to  learn  from  you  how  to  feel  sure  that  the  lowest 
sandstone  and  coarse  gravel  at  the  bottom  of  the 
ravine  were  really  Secondary,  that  the  infusorial  bed 
was  Eocene  and  not  Miocene,  though  I  have  no  rea- 
son for  preferring  the  latter.  .  .  . 

I  shall  be  glad  of  your  letters  about  the  Wilming- 
ton district,  and  shall  order  them  to  be  forwarded 
here  immediately. 

I  have  nearly  determined  not  to  return  South  till 
after  the  Meeting  of  Geologists  at  Boston  at  the  end 
of  April.  If  you  could  then  go  South  with  me  and 
show  me  the  Richmond  coal,  and  show  me  the  way 
over  your  mountains  of  Western  Virginia,  I  would 
then  take  that  route  to  Ohio.  I  shall  be  glad  to  find 
a  letter  from  you  at  Philadelphia,  where  I  shall  be 
the  first  week  in  February,  mentioning  whether  this  is 
possible.  I  am  going  by  Augusta  down  the  river  to 
Savannah.  So  far  as  I  have  gone,  the  fossils  strongly 
confirm  the  correctness  of  your  identification  of  the 
Williamsburg  marls  with  the  Miocene  groups  of 
Touraine  and  the  Suffolk  Crag,  according  to  the 
results  of  my  tour  in  France  last  year.  See  "  Geolo- 
gical Society  Proceedings."  The  analogy  of  forms  is 
very  satisfactory,  even  independently  of  the  per- 
centage of  recent  species. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  sir, 

Most  truly  yours, 

CHAKLES  LYELL. 


^T.  37.]          APPALACHIAN  GEOLOGY.  205 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  January  14,  1842. 

MY  DEAE  WILLIAM,  —  By  this  time  you  will  prob- 
ably have  got  our  abstract  in  the  "  Proceedings  of  the 
Philosophical  Society,"  and  also  Silliinan's,  containing 
Mr.  Hall's  paper.  I  think  he  is  wrong  in  calling  the 
limestone  at  head  of  Lake  Erie  the  Niagara  limestone, 
the  pitted  rock  appearing  to  be  the  lowest  stratum 
there  exposed.  Still  his  paper  covers  a  great  amount 
of  ground.  I  am  making  the  Blue  Limestone  of  Cin- 
cinnati an  equivalent  of  the  Salmon  River  and  Pulaski 
group,  and  he  staggers  me,  and  still  more  in  half 
admitting,  as  he  does,  the  rock  at  the  water  level  of 
Cincinnati  to  be  the  Trenton  Limestone.  I  shall  not 
be  satisfied  until  I  go  there  myself ;  a  few  fossils  are 
hardly  enough.  He  clearly  recognizes  the  Oolitic 
Limestone  in  Indiana  and  Missouri  to  be  the  equiva- 
lent of  Carboniferous  Limestone,  but  he  ought  to  have 
mentioned,  as  we  do,  that  Troost  had  already  estab- 
lished it  to  be  such.  The  perusal  of  his  paper  has 
confirmed  me  in  my  purpose  of  visiting  Tennessee 
and  Alabama  this  spring,  if  possible.  Let  us  once 
fairly  trace  your  S.  W.  types  into  those  States  and 
unite  them  with  the  rocks  on  the  Ohio,  and  we  shall 
have  material  for  a  general  treatise  and  map  on  the 
Appalachian  System.  If  we  were  to  resolve  to  clear 
up  this  Southern  work  during  the  coming  spring  and 
summer,  we  might  get  certain  portions  of  our  work, 
say  that  treating  of  the  structure  of  the  mountain 
chains,  ready  to  read  to  the  Association  in  April,  and 
leave  the  rest  for  a  season  of  more  leisure,  to  be  all 
incorporated  into  a  special  volume.  What  think  you? 
Pressed  as  we  shall  be,  I  hardly  see  how  we  can  get  a 
general  memoir  ready  by  June  for  the  British  Associa- 
tion. If  we  could  spend  two  months  together,  we  might 
accomplish  much.  .  .  . 

Conrad  has  actually  read  descriptions  of  all  his 
new  species  to  the  Academy,  and  the  plates  are  soon 


206      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1842. 

to  be  put  to  press.  I  rejoice  at  it;  now  we  shall  have 
something  to  go  upon.  I  am  on  the  committee  on  his 
paper.  He  proposes  now  this  classification :  From 
bottom  of  the  series  to  Tully  Limestone  inclusive, 
Silurian,  our  Silurian.  The  Lower  Silurian  ends  with 
the  Clinton  group.  Middle  Secondary  commences 
with  Niagara  shales  and  terminates  with  Oriskany 
sandstone,  which,  he  says,  is  well  developed  in  Penn- 
sylvania, Kentucky  and  North  Alabama.  Tully 
Limestone,  and  the  Upper  Secondary,  Ithaca  and 
Chemung  groups  and  Blossburg  Old  Eed  he  calls 
Devonian.  Onondaga  Limestone  he  finds  at  Falls  of 
Ohio. 

I  think  that  Hall  is  not  far  wrong  in  his  views  of 
the  western  strata,  if  we  accept  what  he  says  of  the 
Trenton  Limestone,  etc. 

Ought  we  not  to  get  something  ready  for  the  spring 
meeting,  and  would  a  chapter  on  our  anticlinal  axes, 
etc.,  be  appropriate  ?  We  could  take  time  to  study 
the  organic  remains  next  summer  and  mature  our 
classification,  the  foundations  of  which  ought  to  be 
weU  laid.  .  .  . 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  February  5,  1842. 
.  .  .  We  have  just  had  a  large  meeting  of  the 
students  to  form  a  Temperance  Society,  and  quite  a 
respectable  number  have  taken  the  teetotal  pledge  for 
the  college  course.  This  I  deem  the  happiest  move- 
ment for  the  University  that  has  ever  been  made,  and 
I  make  no  doubt  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  stu- 
dents, if  not  all,  will  eventually  join.  If  so,  we  shall 
have  no  further  riots  or  other  serious  violations  of 
law,  and  our  places  will  be  infinitely  more  desirable 
than  they  ever  have  been.  Besides,  the  effect  upon 
the  community  of  such  a  society  being  known  to  exist 
here  will  dissipate  the  unjust  prejudice  which  exists 
against  us,  and  I  look  for  a  very  large  increase  of 
numbers.  You  will  smile  at  my  earnestness,  but 


MT.  37.]  ON  PUBLIC  SPEAKING.  207 

in  truth  I  know  that   99-100ths  of  all  our  troubles 
spring  from  drink,  and  that  too,  generally  wine.  .  .  . 

I  am  glad  that  you  are  paying  more  attention  to 
your  lectures  in  the  University.  Nothing  but  practice 
is  wanting  with  any  of  us  to  excel  in  this  offhand 
kind  of  composition.  In  fact,  I  think  that  it  is  the 
genius  of  the  family,  and  depends  upon  a  peculiarity 
of  temperament  in  which  we  all  share.  For  my  own 
part,  I  find  that  when  I  am  strong,  as  I  have  been 
this  winter,  I  absolutely  revel  in  some  of  my  better 
themes.  .  .  . 

I  suppose  Mr.  Lyell's  course  is  now  under  way. 
How  happy  would  I  be  could  I  be  present  at  his  lec- 
tures !  Please  tell  him  for  me  that  I  greatly  regret 
not  to  hear  him,  and  remember  me  very  kindly  to  him 
and  Mrs.  Lyell. 

If  possible,  in  the  spring  I  would  spend  a  week  or 
two  with  him  geologizing  in  Virginia.  Whether  this 
will  be  in  my  power  I  shall  better  be  able  to  say  by 
and  by. 

Give  my  and  Robert's  and  Uncle's  love  to  dear 
James  and  Rachel  and  the  children,  and  do  both  he 
and  you  write  soon  to 

Your  devoted  brother, 

WILLIAM  B.  ROGEES. 

FROM   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

PHILADELPHIA,  February  13,  1842. 

...  I  conveyed  your  message  to  Lyell.  He  seems 
much  to  wish  for  an  excursion  with  you.  He  talks  of 
crossing  Virginia  to  Guyandotte,  going  to  Cincinnati, 
then  North  to  Lake  Erie,  to  get  into  Western  New 
York  and  Canada,  after  the  Boston  meeting,  and  he 
would,  I  think,  be  glad  of  your  escort  through  Vir- 
ginia. I  am  not  satisfied  with  the  published  abstract 
of  his  letter  to  the  Geological  Society,  describing  the 
results  of  our  visit  to  the  anthracite  region  in  October. 
He  told  me  he  had  sent  it  as  our  joint  work ;  now  he 
has  taken,  or  is  made  to  get,  the  lion's  share.  .  .  . 


208      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1842. 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS    BROTHERS. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  February  21, 1842. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHERS,  .  .  .  Tell  James  that  Robert 
and  I  were  delighted  to-day  with  Graham's  mode  of 
showing  the  decomposition  of  fluosilicic  acid  by  pass- 
ing through  water.  Each  bubble,  as  it  rose  through 
the  liquid,  became  encased  in  a  film  of  silica.  Prob- 
ably he  has  made  the  experiment,  which  I  never  did 
before.  If  not,  he  should  present  it  to  his  class  when 
next  on  that  subject.  .  .  . 

Your  devoted  brother, 

WILLIAM  B.  ROGERS. 

FROM  HIS  BROTHER  HENRY. 

PHILADELPHIA,  February  22,  1842. 

.  .  .  The  great  point  to  settle  is  the  best  line  of  di- 
vision between  the  meridian  and  post-meridian  series. 
Conrad  now  makes  it  the  top  of  the  Tully  Limestone, 
but  this  is  too  local  for  us.  1  think  with  us  the 
question  is  nearly  reduced  to  this :  shall  we  take  the 
bottom  of  VIII.,  or  shall  we  divide  VIII.  ?  Phillips's 
book  on  Devonian  fossils  has  not  yet  arrived.  .  .  . 

As  has  been  already  stated  (p.  183),  the  Geological 
Survey  of  Virginia  was  to  have  come  to  an  end  on 
January  1,  1842,  but  after  many  delays  a  bill  was 
passed  extending  the  time  for  its  completion  to  April, 
and  making  for  it  a  further  appropriation  of  $4,000. 

The  third  annual  meeting  of  the  Association  of 
American  Geologists  and  Naturalists  convened  in 
Boston,  April  25-30,  1842,  and  the  brothers  Wil- 
liam and  Henry  Rogers  were  present.  It  was  at 
this  meeting,  on  the  29th  of  April,  that  one  of  the 
most  important  papers  ever  published  by  them  was 
read.  It  was  entitled,  "On  the  Structure  of  the 
Appalachian  Chain,  as  exemplifying  the  Laws  which 


Mrr.  37.]     THIRD  MEETING  OF  GEOLOGISTS.     209 

have  regulated  the  Elevation  of  Great  Mountain 
Chains  generally,"  and  appeared  in  the  "Trans- 
actions "  already  refered  to. 

After  the  death  of  Professor  Rogers  in  1882,  among 
the  notices  which  appeared  in  the  public  prints  was 
the  following,  by  one  who  was  present,  referring  to 
this  meeting :  — 

EXTRACT   FROM   A   LETTER   OF  JOHN   L.    HATES,    ESQ.1 

CAMBRIDGE,  MASS.,  June  4,  1882. 

In  April,  1842,  I  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  attend- 
ing, as  one  of  the  youngest  members,  the  meeting  of 
the  Association  of  American  Geologists  and  Natural- 
ists, held  in  the  city  of  Boston,  at  the  rooms  of  the 
Boston  Society  of  Natural  History.  This  association 
was  remarkable  from  the  circumstance  that  nearly  all 
its  members  were  practical  geologists,  actually  en- 
gaged in  conducting  the  geological  surveys  then  in 
process  in  the  different  States.  The  discussions  were 
of  the  gravest  character  and  of  profound  interest,  as 
all  were  seekers  for  instruction  from  each  other,  for 
guidance  in  conducting  the  surveys  and  completing 
the  reports.  The  meeting  in  Boston,  as  compared 
with  three  others  which  I  attended  elsewhere,  was  a 
particularly  brilliant  one.  Its  President  was  Dr. 
Morton,  of  Philadelphia,  so  distinguished  for  his  re- 
searches in  anthropology.  Its  appointed  orator  was 
the  venerable  Professor  Silliman,  the  father  of  Amer- 
ican geology.  Not  less  distinguished  among  the 
associate  members  present  were  the  admirable  State 
Geologist  of  Massachusetts,  Professor  Hitchcock  ;  the 
almost  inspired  observer  of  natural  phenomena,  our 
own  Dr.  Charles  T.  Jackson ;  Emmons,  of  New  Jer- 
sey, the  expositor  of  the  Taconic  System ;  the  brilliant 
French  astronomer  Nicollet ;  the  mineralogist  Beck ; 
the  paleontologist  Hall ;  the  microscopist  Bailey ;  the 
zoologist  Gould  ;  the  philologist,  as  well  as  naturalist, 
i  An  amateur  geologist  of  Cambridge,  Mass. 


210      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1842. 

Haldeman ;  the  eminent  merchant,  and  promoter  of 
New  England  industries,  Nathan  Appleton,  to  whose 
munificence  is  due  the  publication  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  association ;  and  the  brothers  William  B.  and 
Henry  D.  Rogers,  the  former  (the  elder)  then  the 
State  Geologist  of  Virginia,  and  the  latter  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  each  a  representative,  as  professor,  of  the 
principal  university  in  the  respective  States.  To  com- 
plete this  brilliant  circle,  Sir  (then  Mr.)  Charles 
Lyell,  the  recognized  head  of  English  geology,  was 
present,  an  interested  listener  and  active  participant 
in  the  debates. 

Notwithstanding  the  able  address  of  Professor  Silli- 
man,  the  elaborate  paper  of  Professor  Hitchcock,  and 
the  frequent  and  interesting  remarks  of  Mr.  Lyell, 
the  marked  feature  of  this  meeting,  which  continued 
for  a  week,  was  the  reading  of  a  joint  paper  by  the 
brothers  Rogers  upon  the  physical  structure  of  the 
Appalachian  chain,  as  exemplifying  the  laws  which 
have  regulated  the  elevation  of  great  mountain  chains 
generally.  The  expression  "  reading  a  paper  "  con- 
veys a  most  inadequate  idea  of  what  was  a  remarkable 
oratorical  effort.  The  brothers,  William  and  Henry, 
who  must  always  be  associated  together,  as  there  was 
an  absolute  unity  of  effort  in  the  great  work  of  their 
lives,  their  geological  observations  and  deductions, 
had  been  for  several  years  studying,  respectively,  dif- 
ferent sections  of  the  same  great  geological  field,  the 
Appalachian  chain,  the  one  in  Virginia,  and  the  other 
in  Pennsylvania.  With  the  natural  desire  of  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  South  to  make  a  favourable  im- 
pression on  the  occasion  of  their  first  appearance  in 
New  England,  they  selected  the  meeting  in  Boston  for 
giving  the  grand  results  of  their  labours  in  the  pecul- 
iar field  of  American  geology  which  it  had  fallen  to 
them  first  to  explore.  A  grander  geological  theme 
could  hardly  be  imagined.  It  related  to  the  physical 
structure  of  a  mountain  chain  1,300  miles  in  total 
length,  extending  from  Vermont  to  Alabama,  and  100 


JEft.  37.]  A  NOTABLE  ADDRESS.        ,    "        211 

miles  in  its  greatest  breadth,  consisting  of  beds  of  Silu- 
rian, Devonian  and  Carboniferous  formations  (adopt- 
ing terms  applied  to  similar  formations  in  England), 
arranged  in  elevated  parallel  and  narrow  ridges,  some- 
times 100  miles  in  length,  but  with  strata  so  folded, 
warped,  contorted,  fractured  and  eroded  that  science 
had  sought  in  vain  to  find  a  key  to  their  original 
structure.  Yet  the  genius  of  the  brothers  Rogers  had, 
like  the  Egyptologist  with  the  papyrus  roll,  unfolded 
the  inverted  and  contorted  strata,  spread  and  smoothed 
them  out,  as  it  were,  in  an  open  book,  and  showed 
them  to  the  eye  of  science  as  originally  horizontal 
deposits,  continuous  with  the  rocks  of  the  great  west- 
ern coal-fields.  But  I  can  hardly  even  glance  at  the 
scientific  conclusions  of  this  paper,  as  my  simple 
object  is  to  describe  the  manner  of  its  delivery,  and 
the  impression  it  made  upon  its  hearer. 

The  brothers,  by  their  happy  and  amiable  faculty 
of  thinking  and  working  in  concert,  more  than  dupli- 
cated their  individual  power.  In  making  their  joint 
exposition  —  for  the  "  paper,"  as  delivered,  was  purely 
an  oral  statement  —  William  Rogers  took  upon  him- 
self the  more  modest  but  really  more  difficult  part, 
of  describing  the  phenomena,  leaving  to  his  brother 
the  part  of  explaining  the  theory  of  the  phenomena. 
Nothing  could  be  more  pleasing  than  the  working  to- 
gether of  these  two  minds  toward  the  same  end. 
Both  were  in  the  heyday  of  manhood,  with  the  enthu- 
siasm of  youth  and  the  fervour  of  their  section  still 
unabated.  Their  ambition,  it  is  true,  was  hardly 
concealed,  but  it  was  an  ambition  which  produces 
noble  efforts.  Those  who  know  the  elegance  of  dic- 
tion and  manner  which,  characterized  the  later  address 
of  the  elder  Rogers  can  partially  conceive  of  the 
effect  he  produced  by  the  fluent  and  graceful  oral 
statement  of  the  complicated  phenomena  of  this 
hitherto  mysterious  mountain  chain,  —  a  statement  in 
which  there  was  not  one  moment  of  hesitancy,  nor 
a  word  which  was  not  the  most  fitting.  But  they 


212      GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  VIRGINIA.    [1842. 

cannot  conceive  of  the  delight  which  was  given  to  the 
admiring  hearers  by  the  restoration  of  these  disturbed 
formations  to  their  primitive  symmetry,  and  by  the 
revelation  of  the  laws  of  structure  which  determined 
the  conformation  of  the  vast  and  singular  mountain 
range. 

This  paper,  or  what  purports  to  be  the  same,  is 

r Wished  in  the  "  Transactions  "  of  the  Association, 
have  frequently  read  it  since.  To  me  it  is  now 
comparatively  tame  in  expression.  It  lacks  the  in- 
spiration of  the  scene  and  the  men,  the  illustrative 
diagrams,  the  emphasis  of  voice  and  finger  pointing 
out  the  distinguishing  phenomena,  and  the  fervour  of 
spontaneous  utterance.  The  impression  I  have  of  this 
exposition,  as  delivered,  is  that,  next  to  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  oration  of  Wendell  Phillips  at  Harvard,  it 
was  the  most  lucid  and  elegant  effort  of  oral  state- 
ment to  which  I  ever  listened.  It  may  be  true  that 
eloquence  is  but  a  secondary  quality  in  the  philoso- 
pher but,  in  respect  to  the  matter  of  this  memoir  and 
the  general  researches  and  deductions  of  the  brothers 
Rogers  here  named,  in  their  peculiar  field  of  explora- 
tion, it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  they  have  made 
the  most  original  and  brilliant  generalizations  re- 
corded in  the  annals  of  American  geology,  and  have 
thrown  light  upon  the  structure  of  mountain  chains 
generally,  which  entitles  them  to  a  place  by  the  side 
of  the  great  expositor  of  this  subject,  filie  de  Beau- 
mont, of  France. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PROFESSOR  OF  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY  AND  FOR  ONE 
YEAR  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  FACULTY  IN  THE  UNI- 
VERSITY OF  VIRGINIA. 

1842-1846. 

Robert  appointed  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Materia  Medica  in 
the  University  of  Virginia.  —  His  Marriage.  —  Henry  presides  at 
Fourth  Annual  Meeting  of  Geologists  and  Naturalists  in  Albany.  — 
He  lectures  on  Geology  in  Boston.  —  Fifth  Meeting  of  Geologists 
and  Naturalists  in  Washington.  —  William  and  Henry  elected  For- 
eign Members  of  the  Geological  Society  of  London.  —  Henry  gives 
a  Course  of  Lowell  Lectures  in  Boston.  —  William  Chairman  of  the 
Faculty  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  —  Attack  upon  the  Univer- 
sity in  the  Legislature.  —  His  Defence  of  the  University.  —  An 
Educational  Document.  —  Student  Riots.  —  Ill-health.  —  A  Visit  to 
Lake  Superior.  —  Henry  removes  to  Boston.  —  Second  Visit  of 
Lyell  to  America.  —  James  and  Robert  edit  "  Turner's  Chemistry." 

—  Plans  of  William  and  Henry  for  a  Polytechnic  School  in  Boston. 

—  A  Summer  Journey  in  New  England. 

ON  the  return  of  the  brothers  from  the  Boston 
meeting  of  the  Society  of  American  Geologists  and 
Naturalists,  they  resumed  their  academic  duties  and 
their  regular  correspondence.  By  the  munificence  of 
Nathan  Appletou,  Esq.,  and  other  gentlemen  of  Bos- 
ton, the  proceedings  of  this  meeting  of  the  Society, 
together  with  those  of  the  two  preceding  meetings 
held  in  Philadelphia,  were  published  hi  a  single 
volume.  In  this  was  included  the  joint  paper  of 
the  Rogers  brothers  "  On  the  Physical  Structure  of 
the  Appalachian  Chain,"  as  well  as  their  individual 
contributions. 


214  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1842. 


TO   ROBERT. 

Pmr.ApRT.pHiA,  May  9,  1842. 

.  .  .  Lyell  and  Nicollet  have  been  sounding  Wil- 
liam's praise  among  our  few  confidential  friends  in  a 
manner  that  has  delighted  me.  Let  us  all  stick  to 
science  in  good  earnest  and  we  shall  not  repent  the 
toil  it  costs. 

Mr.  Lyell  afterwards  induced  the  brothers  to  send 
an  abstract  of  their  paper  on  the  Appalachian  Chain 
to  the  British  Association. 


CHARLES   LYELL   TO   HENRY   ROGERS. 

MARIETTA,  May  19,  1842. 

DEAR  ROGERS,  —  Being  here  in  the  coal  with  Dr. 

Hildreth,  I  was  curious  to  see  the  report  of  L 's 

paper  given  in  the  number  of  the  "  Athenzeum  "  which 
I  received  by  post  at  Wheeling  yesterday.  As  it  con- 
tains much  attributed  to  L on  the  structure  of 

the  Appalachian  which  you  told  me  at  Pottsville,  and 
which  I  withheld  in  my  Stigmaria  letter  to  the  Geo- 
logical Society  as  being  still  your  private  property,  I 
feel  sure  that  you  will  not  read  the  abstract  without 
the  same  very  uncomfortable  feelings  which  I  did.  I 
could  have  wished  that  in  your  last  short  Report  you 
had  given  two  or  three  pages  on  your  grand  gen- 
eral results,  which  are  now  so  widely  ventilated  (as 
Brougham  would  say),  and  are  becoming  such  com- 
mon property,  to  which  others  .  .  .  may  add  original 
observations,  mixing  them  up  together  so  as  no  longer 
to  know  how  much  is  their  own,  that  if  you  do  not 
take  some  steps  in  a  periodical,  or  through  some  other 
channel,  you  will  be  involved  in  endless  reclamations, 
as  the  French  call  them.  No  one  can  stand  quiet  and 
see  others  make  off  with  the  fruits  of  his  labours, 
but  the  effect  of  having  frequently  to  call  out  "  Stop 
thief !  "  would  be  anything  but  desirable.  It  will  be 


JErt.  37.]  LYELL.  215 

long  before  I  shall  be  in  London,  where  I  could  explain. 
The  British  Association  meets  some  day  in  June  at 
Manchester.  I  hardly  know  whether  a  letter  from 
you  to  them  would  be  in  time.  If  so,  I  believe  it 
would  not  shut  you  out  from  a  detailed  paper  at  the 
Geological  Society,  with  sections,  etc. 

My  wife  sends  her  kind  regards,  and  believe  me, 
dear  Rogers, 

Ever  truly  yours, 

CHARLES  LYELL. 

HENRY   TO    WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  30, 1842. 

.  .  .  The  remarks  of  Lyell  set  me  to  pondering 
as  to  my  best  course.  I  drew  up  a  clear,  condensed, 
careful  abstract,  which  when  copied  filled  two  fools- 
cap sheets  as  close  as  James  could  write  it.  This  I 
despatched  this  afternoon  with  a  separate  letter  to 
Professor  Phillips  at  Manchester,  requesting  him  to 
read  it  and  show  it  to  Sedgwick  before  presenting 
it.  ... 

On  June  12, 1842,  the  brothers  William  and  Henry 
were  notified  of  their  election  as  honorary  members 
of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History.  Robert 
had  been  appointed  to  fill  temporarily  the  chair  of 
Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Virginia  in  the  place 
of  Dr.  Emmett,  who  was  absent  on  account  of  ill- 
health. 

WILLIAM   MoILVAINE   TO   HENRY   ROGERS. 

BUKLINGTON,  N.  J.,  August  23, 1842. 

...  I  give  you  an  extract  from  a  letter  just  re- 
ceived from  Mr.  Lyell  at  Halifax,  dated  the  16th 
instant,  as  follows :  — 

"  When  you  see  H.  D.  Rogers  tell  him  that  early 
attention  was  paid  to  his  and  his  brother's  paper  at 
Manchester,  which  gave  rise  to  a  full  and  animated 


216  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1842. 

debate,  ...  in  which  Sedgwick,  Murchison,  De  la 
Beche,  and  Phillips  took  a  part." 

Kobert  was  now  appointed  to  the  professorship  in 
the  University  of  Virginia  made  vacant  by  the  death 
of  Dr.  Emmett. 

WILLIAM  TO   ROBERT. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  September  20,  1842. 

MY  DEAR  ROBERT,  —  You  have  heard  from  Henry 
by  yesterday's  mail  of  your  appointment.  I  have 
never  seen  so  general  a  rejoicing  as  has  been  shown 
on  hearing  of  your  appointment.  All  the  profes- 
sors, Cabell,  Howard,  Harrison,  Kraitzer  and  George 
Tucker,  showed  the  greatest  pleasure.  You  owe  much 
to  Cabell  and  Howard.  The  former,  besides  coming 
over  expressly  to  help  your  cause,  previously  wrote  to 
General  Cocke  about  you. 

As  the  Materia  Medica  is  only  once  a  week,  you 
will  have  no  difficulty  in  preparing  in  that  depart- 
ment. Bring  on  two  copies  of  Liebig's  "  Animal 
Chemistry." 

You  have  the  right  to  Mr.  Bonnycastle's  house. 
The  Visitors  have  formally  accorded  it  to  you.  I  need 
not  say  how  happy  we  all  are,  and  how  much  happi- 
ness we  look  forward  to. 

McKennie  is  writing  to  you  about  text-books. 
Turner,  he  says,  cannot  be  procured.  You  had  best 
make  inquiry  on  this  point.  Good-by,  Professor ! ! 


WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OP  VIRGINIA,  October  2,  1842. 
MY  DEAR  HENRY,  —  I  reached  this  place  late  on 
Saturday  night,  having  endured  the  discomfort  of  a 
crowded  stage  all  the  way  from  the  White  Sulphur. 
The  tri-weekly  arrangement  having  just  been  estab- 
lished, I  found  upon  arriving  at  Callahan's  that  by 
giving  up  my  seat  I  would  be  almost  certain  of  deten- 


JET.  38.]    ROBERT  APPOINTED  PROFESSOR.      217 

tion  for  several  days,  as  there  were  then  persons  enough 
waiting  to  fill  a  stage.  I  thereupon,  after  a  painful 
struggle,  relinquished  my  plan  of  pausing  there  to 
complete  the  examination  of  Dunlap's  Creek.  I  can- 
not tell  you  how  much  regret  this  disappointment 
occasioned  me.  Indeed,  so  anxious  was  I  to  examine 
V.  in  that  quarter  that  I  would  have  been  willing 
to  take  the  chance  of  getting  on.  This  leaves  an  im- 
portant blank  in  my  summer's  observations.  .  .  . 

On  my  way  from  Callahan's  to  the  Hot  Springs,  on 
the  road,  I  found  in  a  neat  cutting  of  the  slate  a  new 
locality  of  the  Orthoceras  limestone.  It  occurs  below 
the  black  wafery  slate  at  which  we  commenced  our 
observations  near  the  Hot  Springs,  and  is  near  the 
cement  layers ;  several  other  fossils,  all  small  ones, 
are  associated  with  it.  I  feel  pretty  certain  that  there 
must  be  a  narrow  band,  perhaps  ten  or  twenty  feet 
thick,  in  that  region,  which  should  be  regarded  as  the 
representation  of  the  Hamilton.  I  also  found  near  the 
top  of  the  North  Mountain,  in  walking  up  the  western 
slope,  five  or  six  bands  of  highly  f  ossilif  erous  sandstone 
and  slate,  containing  a  great  variety  of  shells.  They 
were  considerably  below  the  base  of  IX.,  and  are  no 
doubt  Chemung.  I  brought  one  home  with  me.  ...  I 
have  written  this  in  great  haste  to  be  ready  for  the 
Staunton  mail,  and  shall  have  to  send  it  to  Cocke's 
by  the  driver.  I  am  quite  well. 

JAMES   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  December  24, 1842. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHER,  ...  In  a  day  or  two  I  will 
write  to  you  both  respecting  the  plan  of  a  contem- 
plated work  of  chemistry,  with  an  outline  of  the  ar- 
rangement which  might  be  adopted.  This  I  want  to 
submit  to  you  both  for  such  suggestions  as  you  may 
think  proper  to  make  respecting  it,  but  more  of  this 
in  my  next.  .  .  . 


218  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1842. 


TO   WILLIAM. 

I  have  opened  James's  letter,  with  his  permission, 
to  send  you  a  hasty  copy  of  a  letter  just  received  from 
Professor  Phillips,  of  England,  on  the  subject  of  our 
paper  to  the  British  Association.  .  .  .  Here  is  his 
letter :  — 

FROM  THE  CENTRE  OF  THE  WOOLHOPE  DISTRICT, 
November  15,  1842. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  tardy  in  sending  to  you 
some  account  of  the  presentation  of  your  paper  on 
Elevation  of  Mountain  Chains,  at  Manchester  to  the 
British  Association,  but  in  fact,  my  life  is  now  that 
of  a  mere  paleontologist,  who  has  no  proper  notions 
of  anything  more  recent  than  the  chalk.  My  engage- 
ment with  the  Ordnance  Geological  Survey  requires 
the  devotion  of  a  larger  portion  of  my  days  and  nights 
in  active  field  hammering  and  closet  reasoning,  and 
there  is  yet  a  month  of  the  former  duty  before  I  re- 
visit my  dearly  loved  home  at  York.  But  to  return 
to  your  paper.  I  received  it  just  before  the  Man- 
chester meeting,  at  which  my  official  occupations  were 
excessive,  and  then  commended  it  to  the  President  of 
the  Section,  Mr.  Murchison,  Professor  Sedgwick  not 
having  arrived.  Against  my  expectation  the  paper 
was  appointed  for  reading  on  the  first  day,  when  I 
was  so  entirely  engrossed  with  my  duties  as  not  to 
be  able  to  appear.  Sedgwick,  however,  had  arrived, 
and  there  was  a  lively  and  continued  discussion.  The 
opinions  of  the  geologists  present  were  apparently  at 
variance  with  you,  but  I  am  very  much  of  the  opinion 
that,  had  your  views  been  put  en  grande  carte,  with 
large  diagrams  to  show  the  mechanical  reasoning,  the 
result  might  have  been  different.  There  were  several 
points  in  your  argument  which  I  approved  and  wished 
to  advocate,  but  unfortunately  my  absence  could  not 
be  prevented.  I  don't  think  the  account  of  the  dis- 
cussion in  the  "  Athenaeum  "  very  exact  (so  I  heard 
from  others),  and  in  the  Association  reports,  you 


JEx.  38.]  ROBERT'S  MARRIAGE.  219 

know,  we  never  introduce  any  statements  but  those  of 
the  authors  of  the  papers.  There  will  be  a  pretty 
full  account  of  it  in  our  next  volume.  .  .  . 

On  March  13,  1843,  Robert  was  married  to  Miss 
Fanny  Montgomery,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Joseph  S. 
Lewis,  of  Philadelphia. 

As  the  time  appointed  for  the  fourth  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Association  of  American  Geologists  and 
Naturalists  (at  Albany)  drew  near,  Henry,  who  had 
been  elected  at  the  Boston  meeting  in  1842  Chairman 
for  that  of  1843,  wrote  concerning  it  to  William :  — 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

PHILADELPHIA,  March  30,  1843. 

MY  DEAR  WILLIAM,  .  .  .  Dr.  David  Dale  Owen l 
writes  me  that  he  will  attend  the  Association  at  Al- 
bany, with  papers  on  Western  geology  and  a  system  of 
colouring  geological  maps,  etc.  I  shall  rejoice  to  see 
him,  and  hail  his  coming  as  a  good  sign.  Is  it  not 
time  for  us  to  consider  what  we  shall  present?  I 
presume  it  will  be  a  fit  occasion  to  come  forward  with 
our  nomenclature  and  count  on  a  discussion  of  its 
principles  and  details.  We  may  derive  profit  from 
a  timely  discussion  of  it.  What  think  you  ?  If  you 
agree,  then  we  must  soon  each  of  us  refresh  his  mem- 
ory upon  and  turn  over  the  various  arguments  of  a 
general  kind  we  have  from  time  to  time  thought  of 
in  its  defence.  Of  course  we  shall  have  to  carry  the 
war  into  Africa,  and  show  the  flimsy  foundation  upon 
which  existing  systems  rest.  What  other  matters 
shall  we  propose?  .  .  . 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  8,  1843. 

.  .  .  Should  you  join  me,  I  think  we  can  essentially 
strengthen  our  present  good  position  by  presenting  the 
outlines  and  principles  of  our  nomenclature,  which  I 
1  Chief  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Wisconsin. 


220  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1843. 

am  not,  however,  impatient  to  see  produced.  I  have 
been  looking  rather  extensively  into  the  subject  of 
earthquakes,  with  a  view  to  its  bearings  upon  all  parts 
of  our  theory  of  flexures,  and  the  grand  fundamental 
doctrine  of  an  interior  fluidity ;  and  I  think  we  may 
in  a  joint  paper,  as  a  sequel  to  our  former  one,  greatly 
strengthen  our  positions,  and  incite  anew  the  attention 
of  geologists  to  our  views  upon  the  broadest  grounds. 
Such  a  paper  I  am  collecting  materials  for  indus- 
triously, in  the  hope  that  it  may  meet  your  consent 
that  we  send  it  this  summer  to  the  British  Associa- 
tion, the  leading  members  of  which  will  have  an 
opportunity  at  the  same  time  to  read  our  printed 
memoir.  What  say  you  to  this  notion  ?  I  fear  it 
might  be  premature  to  send  over  our  nomenclature 
until  we  have  at  least  seen  its  fate  here.  .  .  . 


WILLIAM   TO   HENBT. 

UNIVEESITT  OF  VIBGINIA,  April  18, 1843. 

MY  DEAR  HENRY,  —  I  have  for  the  last  three  days 
been  in  doubt  as  to  my  attendance  at  Albany,  and  at 
last,  though  with  no  little  reluctance,  I  have  made  up 
my  mind  to  deny  myself  this  gratification,  that  we 
may  be  the  better  able  to  secure  our  other  objects  the 
coming  summer.  We  shall  both  wish  to  travel  a  part 
of  the  time  for  geological  purposes,  and  I  find  that 
our  means  will  be  much  restricted  if  I  incur  any  more 
than  necessary  expenses  now.  By  that  time  I  shall 
receive  a  part  of  what  is  due  from  Davis's  estate,  some 
of  which,  however,  I  wish  to  hold  in  reserve  for  future 
occasions. 

I  could  not  attend  the  meeting  without  an  absence 
of  about  two  weeks,  and,  though  Robert  could  very 
well  supply  my  place  with  the  junior  class,  my  seniors 
would  be  idle,  and  in  their  present  stage  of  study  this 
would  be  a  serious  matter. 

As  James's  classes  are  likely  for  the  present  to  be 
quite  small,  I  feel  the  more  urged  to  economy  in  all 


Mi.  36.]  INFUSORIAL  DEPOSITS.  221 

things.  We  shall  soon,  I  am  sure,  feel  the  influence 
of  better  times,  and  then  I  shall  have  coffers  better 
supplied.  You  can  imagine  with  what  reluctance  I 
have  relinquished  my  intention  of  being  at  the  meet- 
ing. Ever  since  the  Boston  Association,  I  have  been 
looking  forward  with  much  pleasure  to  it.  But  I 
think  I  have  decided  prudently.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  23, 1843. 

MY  DEAR  HENRY,  ...  I  write  to  request  you  to 
make  a  verbal  communication  to  the  Society  in  my 
behalf  to  the  following  effect :  — 

"Since  my  first  discovery  of  the  infusorial  struc- 
ture on  the  Rappahannock  and  at  Richmond,  as  re- 
ferred to  in  my  Report  for  the  year  1840,  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  finding  a  similar  deposit  at  numerous  other 
localities,  extending  from  the  Potomac  River  to  near 
the  southern  boundary  of  the  State.  Among  these 
points  may  be  enumerated  the  Stratford  Cliffs,  on  the 
Potomac,  the  vicinity  of  Westmoreland  Court  House, 
and  a  great  number  of  localities  between  the  Potomac 
and  Rappahannock  rivers, — the  southern  bank  of  the 
latter,  the  vicinity  of  Newcastle  on  the  Pamunkey 
River,  the  James  River  below  City  Point,  Petersburg 
on  the  Appomattox  River,  and  a  tract  above  Dupre's 
bridge  on  the  Meherrin  River.  Further  search  will, 
I  am  convinced,  greatly  multiply  these  localities,  and 
the  observations  already  made  are  quite  sufficient  to 
prove  the  wide  horizontal  extension  of  this  interesting 
division  of  our  Tertiary  series.  Although  in  some  of 
the  localities,  as  at  Richmond,  the  structure  reposes 
upon  beds  containing  Eocene  impressions,  and  alto- 
gether beneath  the  Miocene  strata,  at  other  places,  as 
for  example  the  Stratford  Cliffs  and  Petersburg,  it  is 
underlaid  by  unequivocal  Miocene,  and  hence  at  these 
places,  if  not  generally,  is  to  be  referred  to  a  position 
in  the  geological  series  within  and  near  the  bottom  of 
the  Miocene  division  of  the  Tertiary.  I  am,  however, 
inclined  to  the  opinion  that  these  strata  are  not  all 


222  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1843. 

upon  exactly  the  same  horizon,  and  that  some  of  them 
lie  in  a  higher  part  of  the  formation.  Mr.  Tuomey, 
of  Petersburg,  who  has  recently  observed  the  deposit 
at  that  place,  estimates  the  thickness  at  thirty  feet. 
(See  his  paper  in  '  Silliman's  Journal,'  April  num- 
ber). 

"  In  connection  with  these  statements,  it  may  be 
interesting  to  add  that  accompanying  the  infusorial 
material,  I  have  found  vegetable  remains  at  some 
localities  in  great  abundance.  They  are  all  imper- 
fectly carbonized,  still  preserving  their  form  and  their 
fibrous  texture,  and  they  seem  to  be  all  referri- 
ble  to  creeping  and  apparently  cryptogamous  plants. 
From  the  specimens  I  am  now  collecting,  I  hope  to 
be  able  to  decide  with  some  certainty  as  to  their  true 
character."  .  .  . 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

ALBANY,  April  30,  1843. 

.  .  .  Thus  far  I  have  done  little  in  our  own  behalf, 
my  time  having  been  greatly  engrossed  by  my  duties 
as  chairman  and  on  committees.  The  attendance  is 
nearly  or  quite  as  slender  as  it  was  at  Boston,  there 
being  a  poor  turn-out  from  this  region  ;  but  there  pre- 
vails an  excellent  spirit,  and  there  has  thus  far  been 
decidly  more  solid  work  performed  than  last  year. 
As  to  filling  the  chair,  I  find  it  laborious,  but  not  at 
all  embarrassing.  The  attendance  at  our  discussions 
is  very  slender,  this  being  a  city  of  almost  no  taste 
for  such  matters.  .  .  .  Morton  has  failed  to  come 
with  his  address,  and  Silliman  Sr.,  Gould,  Ducatel, 
Locke,  Taylor  and  yourself  being  absent,  we  were 
very  much  disheartened  at  first,  as  we  have  derived 
but  a  small  contingent  from  this  quarter.  Lately 
we  have  been  much  more  cheerful,  and,  as  we  talk 
seriously  of  going  next  year  to  Washington,  we  feel 
that  we  may  yet  reach  a  respectable  point  as  regards 
numbers.  ...  I  think  we  shall  meet  in  double  the 
number  at  Washington,  and  we  have  cut  out  a  first- 


JET.  38.]   FOURTH  MEETING  OF  GEOLOGISTS.   223 

class  deal  of  work.  You  and  Robert  are  on  com- 
mittee to  report  on  the  chemical  relation  of  the  Coals 
of  this  country,  and  James  and  Jackson,  of  Boston,  as 
a  committee  on  Greensand.  The  large  committee  of 
nine  on  Drift  having  done  nothing,  we  have  assigned 
the  task  anew,  —  New  England  and  New  York  to 
Emmons,  the  West  and  Far  West  to  Nicollet,  and 
the  Southern  boundary  to  you.  I  am  on  a  committee 
on  coal  plants. 

The  Governor  has  not  yet  signed  the  bill  including 
an  appropriation  for  my  survey ;  some  doubt  exists 
as  to  his  intention.  I  am  to  give  bond  for  completing 
the  work,  which  I  am  willing  to  do  if  I  can  procure 
it.  But  if,  as  some  who  heard  the  debate  supposed, 
I  am  also  required  to  finish  my  report  by  next  win- 
ter, I  shall  not  accept  the  appropriation.  .  .  .  Coming 
from  New  York  in  the  same  car  with  John  Pickering, 
of  Boston,  I  had  much  delightful  conversation  with 
him.  He  gave  me  to  believe  that  I  should  certainly 
succeed  in  Boston  as  a  lecturer.  ...  I  would  propose, 
if  it  were  possible  for  me  to  visit  you  (and  I  fear  I 
cannot  for  some  weeks  at  least),  that  we  should  get 
ready  a  brief  paper  conjointly,  embody  my  investiga- 
tions on  earthquakes,  and  send  it  to  the  British  Asso- 
ciation for  their  approaching  meeting.  We  could  thus 
strengthen  our  theory,  and  take  occasion  to  reply  to 
the  arguments  of  Sedgwick  and  others  to  the  exten- 
sion of  the  structural  laws  to  Europe,  and  also  on  the 
dynamics  of  the  question. 


WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  May  27, 1843. 
MY  DEAR  HENRY,  —  I  am  quite  anxious  for  an 
opportunity  of  replying  to  Sedgwick  and  the  other 
objectors  to  the  theoretical  views  of  our  paper.  Judg- 
ing from  the  report  of  what  he  said,  as  republished 
in  "  Silliman,"  I  do  not  discover  anything  formidable 
in  his  opposition.  Indeed,  both  his  and  De  la  Beche'g 


224  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1843. 

objections  are  already  in  a  great  degree  met  in  our 
extended  paper. 

De  la  Beche's  comments  appear  to  me  to  be  feeble 
and  without  point.  Thus  when  he  says  that,  "  while 
contortions  of  the  strata  sometimes  assume  the  char- 
acter of  mountain  chains,  at  others  they  occupy  large 
tracts  of  low  ground,"  he  seems  to  have  overlooked 
the  effects  of  ulterior  general  subsidence  as  well  as 
denudation.^  In  adverting  to  our  criticism  of  the 
theory  of  Elie  de  Beaumont,  he  has  not  rightly  con- 
ceived the  extent  of  deviation  of  the  various  parts  of 
the  chain  he  describes  from  a  common  direction,  a 
deviation  greater  than  that  referred  to  by  the  French 
philosopher  in  some  cases,  as  marking  differences  of 
epoch.  In  asserting  that  "  the  only  force  necessary 
for  the  production  of  flexures  and  contortions,  such  as 
he  describes,  is  the  lateral  or  tangential  pressure,"  he 
has  evidently  failed  to  appreciate  the  evidence  derived 
from  the  laws  of  flexures  we  have  established.  His 
reference  to  the  structure  of  Russia,  though  well 
enough  as  a  proof  that  our  subterranean  forces  have 
not  acted  there,  does  not  at  all  affect  the  question  of 
their  operation  in  Europe  and  this  country.  We  have 
not  pretended  that  our  pulsations  were  propagated  all 
around  the  hemisphere. 

It  would  seem  that  Sedgwick  does  not  regard  the 
steepening  of  the  flexures  on  the  N.  W.  side  as  "  fa- 
vourable to  our  view  of  the  origin  of  the  contortions," 
and,  from  the  language  in  which  he  is  reported,  he 
appears  to  think  that  the  greater  steepness,  being 
'•'•farthest  from  the  centre  of  disturbing  forces,"  is 
just  what  should  not  be  the  result  according  to  our 
theory.  What  notions  he  entertains  of  subterranean 
waves  I  cannot  imagine,  but  to  me  nothing  in  me- 
chanics is  more  clear  than  the  connection  of  such  a 
force  with  a  great  progressive  wave. 

In  reasoning  from  the  form  of  the  flexures  and 
other  phenomena  presented  by  strata  of  such  high 
antiquity,  I  do  not  see  that  much  importance  should 


MT.  38.]  GEOLOGY.  225 

be  attached  to  the  present  level  of  the  region  in  which 
they  exist.  The  operation  of  an  elevating  as  well  as 
tangential  force  —  in  other  words,  of  a  wave  —  does 
not  seem  necessary  to  imply  a  permanent  uplift  of 
the  whole  surface.  Besides,  in  the  Liege  to  which  he 
refers,  we  know  not  to  what  extent  denudation  or 
subsidence  may  have  depressed  the  ancient  level  of 
the  land.  Sedgwick's  idea  of  the  mechanism  of  earth- 
quake movement,  which  Dr.  P in  the  Philosoph- 
ical Society  reproduced,  is  no  better  than  any  other 
guess.  The  comparison  of  phenomena,  and  the  actual 
tracing  of  the  movement  with  which  you  have  lately 
been  occupied,  is  the  true  mode  of  discovering  what 
an  earthquake  is.  .  . 

The  Report  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation for  July  24,  1843,  contains  an  abstract  of  the 
joint  paper  on  the  Physical  Structure  of  the  Appala- 
chian Chain. 

The  summer  of  1843  passed  without  special  inci- 
dent, and  another  academic  year  began.  October, 
with  its  crisp  coolness,  came  once  more  and  brought 
fresh  inspiration  for  the  new  year. 

WILLIAM   TO   JAMES. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  October  14, 1843. 
MY  DEAR  JAMES,  —  This  clear,  invigorating  weather 
reminds  me  of  our  October  rambles  together  when  you 
were  with  me  in  the  Survey,  and  I  am  still  more  for- 
cibly reminded  of  them  in  pursuing  my  present  task 
of  writing  out  the  notes  I  took  some  weeks  ago  in 
Rockbridge,  Allegheny,  and  Greenbrier  counties, 
among  the  scenes  of  some  of  your  most  pleasing  geo- 
logical labours.  My  late  tour  has  thrown  new  light 
upon  some  important  points  in  the  development  of  cer- 
tain formations  there,  and  has  enabled  me  to  make  a 
useful  collection  of  fossils.  What  think  you  of  find- 


226  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1843. 

ing  the  fossil  ore  on  top  of  the  North  Mountain, 
beyond  McCorkle's,  and  above  the  arch  at  Clifton 
Forge  ?  I  earnestly  wished  that  you  could  have  been 
with  me  in  this  journey,  as  much  for  my  advantage  as 
for  that  of  your  health. 

From  what  I  have  observed  of  late,  and  what 
Henry  has  more  than  once  mentioned  in  affectionate 
anxiety,  I  am  fearful  that  you  are  destined,  unless  you 
practice  the  greatest  caution,  to  suffer  as  seriously  as 
even  I  have  done  from  hoarseness  and  feebleness  of 
the  throat.  This  apprehension  gives  me  many  an 
uneasy  hour,  and  makes  me  ardently  desire  that  I 
were  with  you  to  persuade  you  to  adopt  every  means  of 
protection  or  care.  I  trust,  my  dear  James,  that  you 
provide  yourself  in  due  time  with  flannels  and  thick 
winter-proof  boots,  and  that  you  never  venture  out 
unprotected  by  these  and  by  a  good  cloak  or  great- 
coat. My  experience  here  has  shown  me  that  with 
these  and  warm  gloves  I  may  defy  the  cold  and  wet, 
and  that  frequent  exposure  thus  arrayed  is,  even  in 
bad  weather,  salutary  rather  than  hurtful.  .  .  . 

Our  classes  have  increased  steadily  though  not  very 
rapidly  since  I  last  wrote.  We  are  much  ahead  of 
last  season,  and  may,  I  think,  reasonably  count  upon 
one  hundred  and  sixty  in  all.  Robert,  who  has  been 
particularly  lucky  this  year,  has  now  sixty-six,  and 
may  calculate  upon  seventy-five.  I  have  forty-two, 
and  look  for  fifty.  In  these  moderate  expectations, 
however,  we  may  be  disappointed,  but,  should  the  ratio 
of  increase  with  the  time  be  the  same  as  last  year, 
these  must  be  the  results.  From  our  numbers  must 
always  be  deducted  some  two  or  three  non-paying 
students.  Between  us,  at  all  events,  we  may  count 
upon  one  hundred  and  fifteen  fees,  which  is  a  handsome 
improvement  upon  last  session.  From  the  character 
of  our  present  students,  I  augur  not  only  a  quiet  and 
successful  course,  but  a  great  improvement  in  num- 
bers and  respectability  for  future  years.  Every  one 
is  struck  with  the  very  superior  tone  and  breeding  of 


^T.  38.]  INFUSORIAL  DEPOSITS.  227 

the  great  mass  of  the  new-comers  of  this  season. 
Among  those  are  a  son  of  Watkins  Leigh,  of  our 
good  friend  John  Wickham,  and  of  Bishop  Johns.  .  .  . 

The  occasional  letters  which  passed  between  Pro- 
fessor Kogers  and  Professor  J.  W.  Bailey,  of  West 
Point,  reveal  a  pleasant  scientific  intercourse  and  the 
warm  friendship  which  ever  existed  between  them. 
Two  such  letters  belong  to  this  period. 


TO   PROFESSOR  J.   W.    BAILEY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  October  22, 1843. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  been  anxious  for  the  last  three 
weeks  to  inform  you  of  an  important  extension  of  our 
infusorial  formation,  and  to  inclose  you  a  small  speci- 
men for  your  microscope.  You  will,  I  am  sure,  be 
pleased  to  learn  that  I  have  ascertained  the  existence 
of  this  deposit  in  Maryland,  where  I  have  long  felt 
pretty  confident  it  would  be  discovered,  and  that  it 
is  thick  and  probably  widely  diffused.  Its  geological 
position,  as  at  many  of  the  Virginian  localities,  is 
near  but  above  the  junction  of  the  Eocene  and  Mio- 
cene. The  specimen  sent  you  is  from  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Piscataway.  .  .  . 

Though  disappointed  in  my  hope  of  meeting  you  in 
Albany  last  spring,  and  still  later  in  my  design  of 
paying  you  a  short  visit  at  West  Point,  I  trust  I  shall 
enjoy  many  pleasant  interviews  next  spring  in  Wash- 
ington, and  by  way  of  further  recommending  myself 
I  shall  take  on  specimens  of  all  things  worthy  of  your 
microscope  that  I  can  collect.  We  who  are  in  colle- 
giate harness  may  well  envy  the  lot  of  those  happy 
fellows  who,  free  from  all  such  restraints,  can  go 
whithersoever  the  love  of  research  impels,  and  can 
devote  all  their  hours  of  vigorous  thought  to  extend- 
ing the  boundaries  of  knowledge.  .  .  . 


228  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1843. 

FROM    PROFESSOR    BAILEY. 

WEST  POINT,  October  31, 1843. 

One  of  your  ever-welcome  letters  reached  me  yes- 
terday, and  its  contents,  visible  as  well  as  invisible, 
have  afforded  me  much  pleasure.  I  am  glad  to  find 
that  in  spite  of  the  harness  you  can  still  take  flight 
into  the  fields  of  discovery.  This  new  extension  of 
our  little  pets  into  Maryland  is  truly  interesting.  I 
think  we  may  now  challenge  the  world  to  produce  in- 
fusorial deposits  equal  in  extent  to  those  of  which  you 
made  the  truly  "  splendid  "  discovery.  In  America, 
in  spite  of  old  Buffon,  Nature  has  done  all  her  work 
on  a  scale  commensurate  with  our  immense  territory. 
.  .  .  As  most  of  the  forms  in  question  are  more  abun- 
dant in  the  Petersburg  specimen  than  in  any  others,  I 
will  now  proceed  to  describe  and  figure  some  from  that 
locality,  that  you  may  understand  what  I  mean  when  I 
refer  to  them  in  mentioning  the  species  in  the  Mary- 
land specimens.  First  then,  the  gem  of  the  whole,  the 
most  splendid  animalcule  ever  discovered,  is  one  which 
belongs  to  a  genus  which  Ehrenberg  called  Tripodis- 
cws,  in  consequence  of  his  noticing  three  feet-like  pro- 
jections on  the  disc  ;  but  as  our  species  has  from  three 
to  seven  of  these  feet,  I  propose  to  change  the  name 
to  Podiscus,  and  our  elegant  species  I  shall  take  the 
liberty  of  calling  Podiscus  Rogersi.  Ehrenberg's 
species  was  discovered  by  him  in  a  living  state  in  sea- 
water  ;  he  does  not  appear  to  have  noticed  it  in  the 
fossil  state.  Our  species,  which  presents  several 
points  of  difference  from  Ehrenberg's  figure,  is  the 
largest  animalcule  in  the  Petersburg  deposits ;  to  the 
naked  eye,  it  is  as  large  as  this  circle,  —  O.  Its  surface 
is  so  elaborately  marked  that  no  engine-turning  can 
surpass  it  in  elegance,  and  it  bids  defiance  to  all  my 
graphic  powers  to  make  a  good  figure  of  it. 

I  wish  I  could  have  you  here  for  a  while  to  have  a 
long  talk  with  you,  and  receive  from  your  active  mind 
that  stimulus  which  sympathy  in  our  pursuits  and 


-Ex.  38.]  SCIENCE  AT  WEST  POINT.  229 

feelings  never  fails  to  impart.  I  am  about  the  sole 
representative  here  of  the  natural  sciences,  and  have 
to  live  in  an  atmosphere  where  all  that  is  not  mathe- 
matical is  considered  as  unscientific.  Of  course,  then, 
I  meet  with  little  sympathy  or  encouragement  in  my 
pursuits.  Nevertheless,  these  studies  carry  their  own 
reward,  and  render  many  an  hour  pleasant  that  would 
otherwise  be  tedious.  I  am  amused,  and  at  the  same 
time  pleased,  to  see  how  some  of  our  American  geolo- 
gists are  working  up  to  views  which  you  and  your 
brother  Henry  advanced  years  ago,  and  which  have  but 
just  been  caught  up  with  by  some  of  our  savants. 

I  close  for  want  of  room,  but  with  feelings  of  most 
cordial  regard.  Yours  truly, 

J.  W.  BAILEY. 

Professor  Henry  Rogers,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr. 
George  B.  Emerson  of  Boston,  and  other  friends,  was 
at  this  time  preparing  to  give  in  that  city  a  course  of 
popular  lectures  on  geology. 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  November  5,  1843. 
I  have  nothing  whatever  of  local  or  scientific  inter- 
est to  tell  you,  but  write  simply  from  the  impulse  of 
the  most  affectionate  sympathy  in  your  present  plans 
and  prospects.  You  are  now  approaching  the  com- 
mencement of  your  course,  for  which  no  doubt  you 
are  by  this  time  very  amply  prepared.  And  it  is  im- 
portant that  from  the  very  beginning  you  should 
entertain  the  fullest  confidence  in  your  entire  success, 
and  suffer  no  misgivings  to  damp  for  a  moment  that 
animating  sense  of  power  which  it  is  your  right  to 
feel.  My  own  experience  in  popular  lecturing  has 
taught  me  how  much  the  highest  degree  of  success  is 
dependent  upon  the  extent  to  which  this  sense  of  con- 
fidence is  felt  at  the  opening  and  in  the  progress  of 
the  lecture ;  and  hence  it  is  my  habit  now,  when  on 


230  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1843. 

such  occasions  I  find  anxiety  or  timidity  creeping  upon 
me,  to  rouse  my  energy  and,  so  to  speak,  new-nerve 
my  thoughts  by  a  strong  voluntary  effort  like  that 
which  you  witness  in  sprightly,  imaginative  children 
in  their  heroic  reveries.  This  curious  effort  of  the 
will,  though  hard  to  describe,  you  no  doubt  compre- 
hend and  have  yourself  resorted  to.  ... 

On  Saturday  last  I  delivered  the  annual  address  to 
the  Agricultural  Society  of  Albemarle.  It  was  all 
improvised,  and  was  intended  to  point  out  the  true 
dignity  and  the  intellectual  requirements  of  agricul- 
tural pursuits,  and  hence  the  demand  for  a  high 
grade  of  education  in  the  training  of  those  who  are 
to  become  farmers.  .  .  . 

FROM   THE   BOSTON   DAILY   ADVERTISER,    1843. 
LECTUKES   ON   GEOLOGY. 

Professor  Henry  D.  Rogers  will  deliver  the  first 
regular  lecture  of  his  course  on  American  Geology  at 
the  Masonic  Temple,  on  Tuesday,  December  5,  1843, 
at  7  o'clock.  The  lecture  will  treat  of,  —  Means  of 
Geological  Investigation  ;  Different  Classes  of  Rocks  ; 
Series  of  Stratified  Formations  ;  Scale  of  Geological 
Time ;  Central  Heat ;  Fluidity  of  the  Interior  of  the 
Globe  ;  Thinness  of  the  Earth's  Crust,  etc. 

WILLIAM   TO    HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OP  VIRGINIA,  December  18,  1843. 
MY  DEAR  HENRY,  —  In  regard  to  our  Oolite  coal 
and  superior  rocks,  my  views,  though  not  carefully  or 
finally  made  up,  are  briefly  the  following :  I  conceive 
these  materials  to  have  been  accumulated  in  a  chain 
of  shallow  lagoons  and  lakes  extending  some  dis- 
tance east  of  the  present  limits  of  the  formation, 
while  the  great  primary  surface  to  the  west  was,  as 
now,  dry  land.  Supposing  a  subsidence  of  this  tract 
to  have  commenced  in  the  region  of  the  Chesterfield 


-ffir.  39.]       HENRY  LECTURES  IN  BOSTON.        231 

Basin,  we  should  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  change 
have  the  physical  causes  favourable  to  the  production 
of  the  coal,  which,  as  you  know,  lies  at  or  near  the 
base  of  the  formation.  This  earliest-formed  lagoon, 
filled  up  with  a  rank  growth  of  reeds,  Tceneopteris, 
etc.,  gradually  sinking  as  the  vegetable  matter  accumu- 
lated, would  at  length  contain  an  immense  thickness 
of  these  exuvia3  only  requiring  to  be  sealed  in  by 
the  overlying  beds  to  form  the  coal.  A  more  sudden 
shifting  of  the  level  must  now  have  occurred,  attended 
with  violent  wearing  and  transporting  action  of  water, 
by  which  the  coarse  grits  above  the  coal  were  rapidly 
accumulated.  To  this  succeeded  a  gentler  action, 
giving  rise  to  the  fine  micaceous  sandstones  which 
lie  above.  During  all  this  time  I  conceive  that  the 
region  now  occupied  by  the  Fredericksburg  sandstone, 
extending  to  the  South  Anna  River,  had  not  yet  been 
brought  within  the  limits  of  the  sedimentary  action. 
But  now,  a  second  more  sudden  subsidence  occurring, 
and  operating  chiefly  in  the  northern  portion  of  the 
tract,  the  belt  from  the  South  Anna  to  the  Potomac 
was  overspread  with  coarse  primary  and  Appalachian 
pebbles,  which  at  the  same  time  mantled  over  the 
Chesterfield  and  Henrico  coal-fields  ;  and  to  this  suc- 
ceeded the  more  gentle  actions,  which,  as  the  tract 
gradually  subsided,  accumulated  the  materials  of  the 
felspathic  sandstone,  with  its  lignities,  silicified  wood, 
and  other  relics  of  vegetation.  As  we  cannot  be  cer- 
tain of  the  absence  of  this  formation  beneath  the 
Tertiary  even  at  a  considerable  distance  to  the  south- 
east, and  as  we  know  of  its  presence  on  the  Appo- 
mattox,  James,  Rappahannock,  and  Potomac  rivers 
between  the  Gneiss  and  the  Eocene,  we  cannot  pro- 
nounce with  confidence  as  to  the  extent  of  area  over 
which  the  sediment  was  originally  spread  towards  the 
east.  Having  found  no  decidedly  marine  forms  in 
any  of  these  rocks,  I  cannot  suppose  it  to  have  been 
a  coast  deposit,  although  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
the  lagoons  or  the  long  inlet  were  but  little  removed 


232  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1844. 

from  the  sea,  even  in  the  region  of  Chesterfield,  and 
approached  it  still  more  closely  towards  Fredericks- 
burg.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  formation  prior  to 
denudation  was  far  more  extensive  than  now,  having 
seen  traces  of  it  far  south  of  Appomattox. 

In  May,  1844,  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Associa- 
tion of  American  Geologists  and  Naturalists  was  held 
in  Washington.  James  was  a  member  of  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  and  William  and  Henry  attended  and 
read  papers,  but  no  account  of  these  appears  in  the 
correspondence  of  this  period. 

In  a  letter  dated  May  14,  1844,  Mr.  J.  A.  Lowell, 
Trustee  of  the  Lowell  Institute,  proposed  to  Professor 
Henry  Rogers  to  give  a  course  of  lectures  on  Geology 
before  the  Lowell  Institute  in  Boston.  The  letter 
was  addressed  to  the  "Care  of  Professor  W.  B. 
Rogers,  University  of  Virginia,"  and  upon  it  William 
penned  these  lines  :  — 

DEAR  HENRY,  —  I  have  opened  this  most  delight- 
ful letter,  having  a  presentiment  of  what  it  contained, 
and  I  now  close  it  to  send  it  by  this  evening's  mail. 
My  heart  rejoices  with  you  over  its  contents. 
Your  devoted  and  happy  brother, 

WILLIAM  B.  ROGERS. 


WILLIAM   TO   JAMES. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  May  19, 1844. 

We  missed  you,  my  dear  James,  at  the  Association. 
Next  season  you  must  arrange  your  affairs  so  as  to  be 
present.  The  place  of  meeting,  'New  Haven,  is,  I 
think,  well  selected,  and  we  may  anticipate  a  larger 
session  than  we  have  yet  had  and  a  general  interest 
of  the  community  in  our  proceedings. 

Why,  my  dear  James,  do  you  not  write  to  us  ?  We 
are  desirous  of  knowing  all  particulars  connected  with 


^T.  39.]  JAMES'S  FAMILY.  233 

the  Institute  and  other  medical  schools,  —  what  Dr. 
Hare  is  now  about ;  how  Frazer  succeeds  in  his  new 
place  ;  whether  he  intends  retaining  the  place  in  the 
Franklin  Institute,  and  other  items  of  local  and  per- 
sonal interest. 

You  have  not  told  us  anything  about  the  little 
darling,  —  what  is  to  be  her  name ;  whom  is  she 
most  like  ;  and  many  other  inquiries  which  we  would 
make  in  the  first  breath  after  seeing  you,  and  which 
you  can  easily  answer  by  pen.  I  trust  dear  Rachel 
has  quite  recovered.  Tell  her  I  think  daily  with 
brotherly  affection  of  her  and  the  children.  I  wish 
William  and  Henry  could  be  here  to  enjoy  our  deli- 
cious strawberries  and  cream.  The  early  fruits  are 
unusually  good  and  abundant,  and  we  have  straw- 
berries, which  cost  only  6^  cents,  a  quart,  twice  or 
three  times  a  day.  Before  the  yeay  is  out  I  shall  re- 
order my  household,  fitting  up  my  room  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  cumbrous  cases  of  minerals.  Then  I  shall 
be  able  to  have  the  boys  with  me  in  the  spring  when 
you  can  let  them  come  to  enjoy  the  fresh  air,  freedom 
and  rustic  pleasures  of  this  region  of  verdure,  fruits 
and  flowers. 

What  are  you  now  lecturing  on,  and  what  new 
arrangements  have  you  made  in  your  laboratory? 
Robert  is  just  closing  inorganic  chemistry.  I  am 
beginning  the  imponderables,  having  allowed  myself 
too  little  time  to  treat  them  as  fully  as  I  have  been 
used  to  do.  Tell  me  of  any  scientific  news  that  has 
come  to  your  knowledge.  .  .  . 

Your  devoted  brother, 

WILLIAM  B.  ROGERS. 

I  hope  you  still  continue  to  gather  materials  for 
your  book.  Depend  upon  it,  you  might  do  great 
things  by  such  a  work. 

On  June  1,  1844,  Mr.  Rogers  and  his  brother 
Henry  were  informed,  by  the  Foreign  Secretary  (De 


234  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1844. 

la  Beche)  of  the  Geological  Society  of  London,  that 
they  had  been  unanimously  elected  Foreign  Mem- 
bers of  that  Society;  and  in  August,  1844,  Mr. 
Eogers  was  notified  of  his  election  to  membership  in 
the  Royal  Society  of  Northern  Antiquaries,  having  its 
headquarters  at  Copenhagen. 

On  the  opening  of  the  University  in  the  autumn 
Professor  Rogers  was  chosen  by  his  colleagues  Chair- 
man of  the  Faculty,  an  event  of  great  importance  as 
it  proved  in  the  demonstration  and  the  development 
of  those  administrative  powers  which  afterwards  char- 
acterized his  life  and  labors  in  Boston.  Reference  is 
made  to  this  appointment  in  the  following  letter :  — 

TO   GEORGE   TICKNOR,    ESQ. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  October  10,  1844. 

.  .  .  From  the  number  of  matriculates  already  en- 
rolled, we  have  reason  to  anticipate  a  much  fuller 
session  than  we  have  had  for  several  years,  and  are 
encouraged  to  expect  for  the  future  a  nearer  attain- 
ment of  that  wider  and  higher  usefulness  which  the 
great  founder  of  the  University  had  in  mind  in  its 
establishment. 

Nothing  would  please  me  more  than  a  short  visit 
to  Boston  during  my  brother  Henry's  course.  But 
although  I  have  sometimes  indulged  myself  in  dream- 
ing of  it,  my  additional  duties  for  the  present  session, 
as  Chairman,  debar  me  of  all  hope  of  such  a  gratifica- 
tion. Perhaps  early  in  May,  during  or  after  the  meet- 
ing of  the  geologists  at  New  Haven,  I  may  steal  a  day 
or  two  to  look  in  upon  my  friends  in  Boston  and  Cam- 
bridge, and  at  all  events  I  console  myself  with  the 
confident  expectation  of  seeing  them  soon  after  the 
close  of  my  duties  here.  You  thus  see  how  much  my 
plans  of  literary  and  social  enjoyment  have  been  in- 
fluenced by  the  impressions  received  during  my  late 


JET.  39.]        A    VISIT  TO  NEW  ENGLAND.  235 

brief  but  happy  sojourn  among  you,  and  what  antici- 
pations of  pleasure,  before  undreamed  of,  have  been 
awakened  by  the  kind  hospitalities  of  which  I  was  a 
sharer  while  in  Boston,  and  more  especially  beneath 
your  roof.  Be  assured,  my  dear  sir,  that  the  pleasant 
incidents  of  this  visit  recur  often  to  my  thoughts.  .  .  . 
In  my  heart  I  daily  thank  you  and  Mrs.  Ticknor  for 
the  cordial  kindness  that  gave  me  the  sense  of  home 
in  the  midst  of  almost  strangers,  and  proffered  to  me 
the  friendship  which  it  will  be  my  happiness  to  de- 
serve and  cultivate.  And  with  a  yet  deeper  gratitude, 
let  me  add  affectionately,  I  thank  you  for  the  interest 
you  have  evinced  in  my  dear  brother's  welfare  and 
scientific  success,  an  interest  that  has  won  his  warm- 
est affection  and  contributes  daily  to  his  happiest 
thoughts.  .  .  , 

From  this  letter  and  the  next,  it  appears  that  dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1844  the  brothers  William  and 
Henry  paid  a  visit  to  New  England  :  — 

TO   PROFESSOR  JOSEPH   LOVERING. 

UNIVERSITY  OP  VERGINIA,  November  1,  1844. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  of  late  often  thought  of  the 
promise  I  made  you  during  my  happy  visit  to  Cam- 
bridge, but  the  academic  harness  presses  too  heavily, 
thus  early  in  the  session,  to  allow  me  time  for  more 
than  a  brief  note  in  token  of  remembrance,  and  as 
the  vehicle  of  a  small  request.  Erelong  I  shall  have 
greater  freedom,  and  will  most  gladly  do  what  I  can 
to  continue  by  letter  the  intercourse  begun  so  pleas- 
antly during  our  interviews  in  Cambridge.  Disliking 
elaborate  correspondence,  I  enjoy  with  the  heartiest 
relish  a  free,  unreserved  epistolary  talk  with  the 
friends  I  esteem.  And  such,  I  am  sure,  is  your  taste 
also.  Shall  we  not,  then,  indulge  ourselves  from  time 
to  time  in  little  friendly  colloquies  through  the  post- 
office?  It  will  be  pleasant  to  interchange  thoughts 


236  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1845. 

about  science,  or  society,  or  any  other  topics  that  may 
arise,  running  "from  grave  to  gay,  from  lively  to 
severe,"  and,  although  my  poor  counters  will  form  but 
a  sorry  equivalent  for  the  good  coin  you  may  send, 
they  will  always  have  the  heart  stamp  of  sincerity  to 
commend  them  to  your  regard.  Among  the  items  of 
your  first  letter  be  sure  to  include  a  mention  of  your 
lady,  whose  cordial  kindness  in  word  and  manner 
made  me  forget  that  she  was  not  a  friend  of  many 
years.  Please  present  me  to  her  with  earnest  good 
wishes  and  regards. 

Dr.  Schele  tells  me  that  Mr.  Putnam's  Phi  Beta 
address l  has  been  published.  I  rejoice  at  it.  Many 
a  worthless  oration  is  preserved  in  the  amber  of  typo- 
graphy, but  this,  far  excelling  the  dead  flies  thus  en- 
tombed, is  amber  itself  in  transparency.  I  beg  of  you, 
therefore,  to  send  me  a  copy  at  your  earliest  conven- 
ience ;  and  I  will  be  obliged  to  you  also  for  one  of 
your  catalogues  for  this  year,  in  return  for  which  I 
will  send  you  ours  when  published. 

Our  new  colleague,  Dr.  Schele,2  has  made  the  most 
favorable  impression  upon  his  classes,  as  well  as  our 
little  social  circle,  and  is  now  quite  domesticated 
among  us. 

Begging  to  be  very  kindly  remembered  to  Professor 
Peirce,  and  hoping  soon  to  hear  from  you, 

I  remain,  dear  sir,  with  sincere  regard, 
Your  friend, 

WILLIAM  B.  KOGERS. 


FROM   PROFESSOR   LOVERING. 

BOSTON,  February  9,  1845. 

MY  DEAR  ROGERS,  .  .  .  You  have  probably 
heard  before  this  of  your  brother's  success  [with  his 
Lowell  Lectures  on  Geology]  in  Boston.  He  has 

1  Rev.  Dr.  George  Putnam,  of  Roxbury. 

2  Schele  de  Vere,  Professor  of  Modern  Languages  at  the  University 
of  Virginia. 


-ZET.  40.]       PROFESSOR  JOSEPH  LOVERING.         237 

only  left  us  a  few  days  since,  much  to  our  regret,  and 
I  hope  not  without  some  long  and  lingering  looks  on 
his  part,  back  upon  the  city  where  he  has  made  so 
many  sincere  friends,  and  where  he  is  so  much  loved. 
I  heard  half  of  his  lectures,  and  should  have  been 
glad  not  to  have  missed  any.  He  found  a  docile  and 
attentive  audience,  and  a  large  one,  too ;  and  it  is  not 
strange  that  his  winning  style  of  lecturing,  his  calm 
eloquence,  his  chaste  and  beautiful  language,  and  his 
comprehensive  views  of  his  vast  subject,  should  have 
riveted  the  attention  that  was  freely  offered  to  him, 
and  stormed  hearts  that  were  by  no  means  closely 
sealed  against  him.  The  dignity  of  his  thoughts  and 
the  tasteful  drapery  in  which  they  were  enrobed  were, 
I  assure  you,  fully  appreciated,  and  produced  their 
full  effect.  Among  the  numerous  acquaintances  of 
your  brother  I  was  but  an  humble  individual,  and, 
although  he  gave  me  my  share  of  his  time,  I  only 
regret  that  I  did  not  see  more  of  him.  .  .  . 
Your  sincere  friend, 

JOSEPH  LOVERING. 


HENRY    TO   WILLIAM. 

BOSTON,  January  2, 1845. 

DEAR  WILLIAM,  ...  A  gentleman  of  this  town, 
Horace  Gray,  a  highly  respected  and  rich  merchant, 
interested  largely  in  the  iron  manufacture,  has  re- 
quested me  to  undertake,  some  time  in  the  summer,  a 
survey  of  a  district  near  the  Hudson,  and  ascertain 
the  practicability  of  starting  furnaces  there.  It  rests 
with  me  to  assent. 

Kraitzer1  gave  a  gratuitous  lecture  last  night  to 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons  of  education. 
They  seemed  greatly  surprised,  amused  and  struck  by 
his  doctrines,  which  he  expounded  in  a  very  able  man- 
ner. He  is  certainly  an  extraordinary  man;  I  am 

1  .For  a  short  time  Professor  of  Modern  Languages  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia. 


238  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1845. 

more  than  ever  a  convert  to  his  grand  generalizations 
concerning  the  organic  genesis  of  language.     Since 
he  left  the  University  his  views  have  obviously  settled 
into   a   more   thoroughly   compact   and   systematical 
theory,  which  to  me  is  a  truly  sublime  one. 
Kindest  love  to  Robert,  Fanny  and  Uncle. 
Your  truly  devoted  brother, 

HENRY  D.  ROGERS. 

P.  S.  —  I  am  concerned  to  notice  by  your  letters 
that  you  are  not  at  ease  in  relation  to  the  Univer- 
sity. Surely  nothing  can  be  done  detrimental  to  its 
progress. 

BOSTON,  January  24,  1845. 

MY  DEAR  WILLIAM,  ...  A  week  since,  I  lectured 
before  a  Lyceum  in  Portsmouth  to  one  thousand  peo- 
ple, and  on  Monday  and  Wednesday  of  this  week  to 
a  private  class  of  about  two  hundred  only.  .  .  . 

My  friend,  George  S.  Hillard,1  whose  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  address  I  believe  you  have  read,  insisted  last 
week  upon  my  making  my  home  in  his  house,  and 
here  I  am  in  his  choice  library,  resting  myself  after 
my  fatigue.  .  .  .  Among  those  whom  I  have  met  is 
Miss  Sedgwick  the  authoress,  who  has  just  returned 
to  her  winter  home  in  New  York  city,  after  a  visit  to 
her  niece  here  for  three  weeks.  I  saw  her  frequently 
at  Mrs.  Minot's,  and  was  greatly  charmed  by  her  be- 
nevolence of  character  and  her  highly  cultivated  and 
liberal  mind. 

.  .  .  Have  you  seen  a  new  work  just  republished 
by  Wiley  and  Putnam,  "  Vestiges  of  the  Natural  His- 
tory of  Creation  "  ?  It  contains  many  of  the  loftiest 
speculative  views  in  Astronomy  and  Geology  and 
Natural  History,  and  singularly  accords  with  views 
sketched  by  me  at  times  in  my  lectures. 

Write  next  to  Philadelphia,  where  I  shall  be  about 
this  day  next  week.  You  know  not  how  I  pine  to  be 

1  George  Stillman  Hillard,  author  of  Six  Months  in  Italy,  etc. 


JET.  40.]        THE  UNIVERSITY  IN  DANGER.          239 

with  you  and  Robert  and  Fanny  for  a  season.     Kind 
love  to  you  all. 

Most  affectionately, 

HENRY  D.  ROGERS. 

On  December  22,  1844,  the  Committee  on  Schools 
and  Colleges  of  the  House  of  Delegates  of  Virginia 
was  instructed  to  investigate  "  the  past  history  and 
present  condition  and  influences  of  the  University  of 
Virginia,  with  a  view  of  forming  their  opinion  upon 
the  question  of  repealing  the  Act  of  Assembly  grant- 
ing an  annuity  of  115,000  to  that  Institution."  This 
was  the  attack  upon  the  University  referred  to  by 
Henry  on  the  previous  page.  William  makes  as  light 
as  possible  of  his  anxiety  on  this  account,  at  the  end 
of  a  long  letter  on  scientific  matters. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  January  5,  1845. 
DEAR  HENRY,  .  .  .  We  are  quiet  and  comfortable, 
but  my  neighbours  think  and  talk  of  nothing  but  the 
possible  results  of  legislation  upon  our  endowment.  I 
presume  there  is  danger  of  a  reduction,  if  not  entire 
withdrawal,  of  the  annuity,  but  in  my  mind  the  prob- 
ability is  the  other  way.  Still  Robert  and  I  give  our- 
selves as  little  anxiety  as  possible. 

To  this  Henry,  writing  to  Robert,  replies :  — 

PHILADELPHIA,  February  11,  1845. 

Things  here  look  dismal  enough  to  me  after  Boston. 
There  my  mind  and  my  heart  had  scope  to  unfold  in ; 
here,  like  a  frightened  coral,  I  draw  myself  within  my 
stony  shell.  I  am  determined,  however,  not  to  give 
way  to  the  depressing  influences  which  here  beset  me, 
but  to  enter  as  soon  as  possible  on  a  course  of  lec- 
tures. ...  I  trust  William  has  got  home  again  with- 
out harm  to  his  health.  I  fear  he  has  been  working 
too  hard.  What  you  mentioned  in  your  letter  was 


240  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1845. 

truly  gratifying.  I  trust  lie  will  continue  to  maintain 
his  high  ground  respecting  the  University.  Its  sys- 
tem needs  only  to  be  understood  and  carried  out.  Do 
you  notice  how  they  are  stirring  in  Harvard  an  incipi- 
ent reform?  They  have  much  to  do  there.  What 
is  to  be  the  true  extent  of  the  lectureship  department 
in  the  Smithsonian  Institution  ?  .  .  . 

It  devolved  upon  Mr.  Rogers  as  Chairman  of  the 
Faculty  to  prepare  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature  of 
Virginia  in  defence  of  the  University  and  its  annual 
appropriation.  There  is  evidence  that  he  gave  much 
time  and  thought  to  this  work,  and  the  lengthy  Report 
of-  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Delegates  on  Schools 
and  Colleges  "  Against  the  expediency  of  withdraw- 
ing the  fifteen  thousand  dollars  annuity  from  the 
University  "  (Document  No.  41,  Session  of  1844-45) 
was  prepared  by  Mr.  Rogers.  This  Report  is  of 
the  highest  interest,  and  of  great  importance  in  the 
history  of  American  education.  It  is  easy  to  detect 
in  it  abundant  proofs  of  that  educational  breadth  and 
insight  which  afterwards  became  so  conspicuous  in 
the  foundation  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology in  Boston.  It  is  especially  interesting  to  the 
student  of  the  development  of  state  universities,  which 
have  not  infrequently  had  to  meet  and  overcome 
attacks  of  philistinism  similar  to  that  which  now 
menaced  the  prosperity  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 
For  these  reasons,  and  because  of  its  intrinsic  interest, 
we  give  lengthy  extracts  from  this  document  in  the  Ap- 
pendix.1 It  should  be  observed  that  the  annuity  which 
it  was  now  proposed  to  withdraw  had  constituted  a 
prominent  feature  of  the  University's  income  ever 
since  its  foundation  by  Thomas  Jefferson  in  1818. 

The  next  letter  hints  at  some  of  the  grounds  of  the 

i  Page  399. 


^T.  40.]      AN  EDUCATIONAL  DOCUMENT.         241 

attack  upon  the  University,  and  suggests  a  union  with 
the  Virginia  Military  Institute  :  — 

FROM  WILLIAM  B.   JOHNSON. 

STAUNTON,  February  14,  1845. 

I  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  Military 
Institute  at  Lexington,  and  write  to  suggest  to  you  a 
scheme  which  occurred  to  me  during  that  visit,  and 
which  might  be  useful  to  the  University. 

It  is  to  engraft  upon  the  University,  the  Military 
Institute,  so  as  to  avail  the  University  of  the  appro- 
priation, the  cadets,  the  popularity,  the  popular  fea- 
ture of  the  free  cadets,  and  the  excellent  system  of 
order  and  economy  of  the  Institute.  This  seems  to 
me  desirable  when  I  consider  some  of  the  sources 
of  the  prejudices  against  the  University,  her  real  or 
apparent  want  of  discipline  and  economy,  or  when  I 
look  only  at  the  frequent  abuse  which  has  been  of 
late  unjustly  heaped  upon  her,  and  the  strong  feeling 
of  hostility  manifested  in  the  present  Legislature.  .  .  . 

This  seems  to  me  a  favourable  time  to  effect  this 
measure,  if  it  be  a  desirable  one.  Some  change  in  the 
organization  of  the  University,  if  not  its  total  destruc- 
tion, seems  to  be  meditated  by  its  enemies,  on  the 
ground  or  the  pretext  of  its  expense  and  disorder ; 
the  military  system  seems  to  be  the  favourite  of  the 
day. 

I  hope  you  will  attribute  my  interest  in  the  subject 
to  its  true  and  main  source,  my  ever  warm  attachment 
to  my  Alma  Mater,  and  accept  for  yourself  my  affec- 
tionate regard. 

Yours  respectfully, 

WILLIAM  R.  JOHNSON. 

To  this  Professor  Rogers  replied :  — 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  15, 1845. 
MY  DEAR  SIR,  ...  As  regards  the  feasibility  and 
success  of  the  organic  changes  suggested  in  your  let- 


242  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1845. 

ter,  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  at  this  time  to 
present  my  views  and  that  of  my  colleagues  in  detail. 
We  all  feel  the  importance  of  some  system  of  police 
capable  of  securing  permanent  good  order  and  dili- 
gence among  the  students,  and,  consulting  our  own 
feelings  merely,  would  sincerely  rejoice  in  a  liberation 
from  the  anxieties  and  annoyances  of  college  disci- 
pline. Yet,  when  we  compare  the  conduct  and  prog- 
ress of  our  classes,  and  our  relations  to  them,  with 
the  like  particulars  in  other  leading  institutions  of 
this  country,  we  are  far  from  being  discouraged  by 
the  result,  and  are  still  strongly  hopeful  of  steady 
and  increased  success,  notwithstanding  the  ungenerous 
enmity  of  those  who,  from  prejudice  or  ignorance,  are 
labouring  for  our  overthrow.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Rogers  had  once  more  appealed  to  the  Legis- 
lature for  the  means  with  which  to  publish  his  final 
Report,  but  in  vain,  as  the  following  shows  :  — 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   JAMES. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  February  28,  1845. 

.  .  .  Next  winter,  I  have  little  doubt,  by  timely 
application  and  personal  attention  to  the  matter,  I 
can  procure  the  appropriation  for  my  Report  which 
has  recently  been  denied.  Mr.  Brown  writes  that, 
had  I  been  able  to  devote  one  week  to  personal  effort 
with  the  members,  he  is  sure  I  would  have  succeeded 
this  winter.  But  I  am  quite  well  pleased  that  I  did 
not,  though  I  give  no  thanks  to  the  Legislature  on 
that  account. 

We  are  just  now  enjoying  comparative  quiet  within 
the  precincts;  and  as  many  of  our  most  turbulent 
spirits  have  been  sent  away,  or  have  withdrawn,  I 
look  for  more  comfortable  times  for  the  rest  of  the 
session.  My  position  as  Chairman  has  devolved  upon 
me  many  unpleasant  duties,  and  has  kept  me,  until 
now,  in  a  state  of  almost  unceasing  anxiety.  .  .  . 


JET.  40.]  THE  COMING  OF  SPRING.  243 

When  will  your  lectures  in  the  Institute  terminate  ? 
The  medical  courses  are,  I  suppose,  now  closing,  and 
the  great  doctors'  mill  is  making  its  last  revolution 
preparatory  to  the  process  which  is  to  send  abroad 
the  manufactured  product  stamped  wholesale  by  the 
University  branding-iron. 

A  renewal  of  the  disturbances  by  the  students  of 
the  University  now  caused  the  Chairman  of  the  Fac- 
ulty great  anxiety,  and  marked  the  beginning  of  a 
new  series  of  "  riots  "  which  finally  became  so  serious 
as  to  cause  the  suspension  for  a  week  of  all  Uni- 
versity exercises. 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  5,  1845. 

.  .  .  How  heartily  you  must  have  enjoyed  the  con- 
fidence and  society  of  Hillard,  and  how  much  pleas- 
ure you  must  reap  from  corresponding  with  him! 
Lucian  Minor  is  the  only  person  in  all  my  acquaint- 
ance with  whom  I  can  have  the  luxury  of  free  literary 
communion.  He  spent  part  of  a  day  and  a  night  with 
me  and  Robert  lately,  and  did  us  both  good  by  carry- 
ing us  for  a  while  away  from  our  common  subject  of 
thought  into  the  enticing  realm  of  purifying  and  cheer- 
ing letters. 

Minor  proposes  making  an  abstract  of  my  Report 
on  the  University,  with  his  own  comments,  for  the 
next  "  Messenger." 1  He  says  it  is  triumphantly  con- 
vincing. 

Spring  is  now  fairly  setting  in.  The  lawn  is  grow- 
ing green,  the  maples  and  poplars  are  in  bloom,  the 
lilac  leaves  are  rapidly  unfolding,  and  the  violets  shed- 
ding their  tea-like  fragrance  in  our  gardens.  Varia- 
ble and  blustering  though  generally  mild  weather 
has  thus  far  marked  the  month,  and  we  are  anticipat- 
ing a  very  early  spring.  Among  the  changes  of  the 
--  *  Southern  Literary  Messenger. 


244          THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1845. 

season,  nothing  pleases  me  so  much  as  the  lengthening 
of  our  daylight  hours,  and  the  exemption  this  usually 
brings  from  the  annoyances  and  troubles  among  our 
students.  .  .  . 

TO  LUCIAN  MINOR. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  6,  1845. 
.  .  .  With  my  ten-toe  equipage,  as  Bonnel  Thorn- 
ton calls  it,  I  journeyed  to  town  this  morning  ex- 
pressly to  see  you,  and  was  sadly  disappointed  on 
learning  that  you  had  taken  French  leave  of  us  and 
gone  home.  We  were  in  hopes  of  enjoying  another 
evening  with  you  at  my  house  and  Robert's,  when  we 
might  have  looked  into  the  grand  tableau  of  Miche- 
let's  History,  of  which  I  spoke,  and  which  I  have 
since  found,  and  might  have  indulged  in  many  cheer- 
ing and  heart-refreshing  literary  rambles.  .  .  .  My 
pursuits  of  late  years  have  been  so  entirely  scientific 
that  I  have  had  little  time  or  opportunity  for  gratify- 
ing the  ever-present  longing  of  my  heart  for  the  sweet 
recreations  of  general  literature.  There  was  a  time 
when  I  could  enjoy  the  luxury  of  pleasant  journeyings 
amid  those  charming  realms  of  flowers  and  fragrance 
and  refreshing  shade  that  spread  in  magic  beauty 
around  the  slopes  of  old  Parnassus ;  and,  while  listen- 
ing with  wrapt  ear  to  the  music  of  "  Helicon's  harmo- 
nious Springs,"  I  have  even  fancied  that  I  had  a  spirit 
within  me  that  might  some  day  respond  to  the  divine 
minstrelsy  of  its  swelling  waters.  But  the  muses,  then 
but  unwilling  guides,  have  now,  I  fear,  entirely  for- 
saken me.  You  smile,  no  doubt,  to  hear  that  I  should 
ever  have  indulged  the  conceit  of  mingling  my  triangle 
music  with  the  harmonies  of  the  poetic  choir,  but,  to 
be  candid,  though  I  did  not  hope  to  win  even  a  dry 
leaf  of  that  laurel  which  first  shaded  the  brow  of  the 
"  blind  old  man "  of  whom  the  world  disputes,  and 
which  has  since  enwreathed  the  temples  of  all  the 
masters  of  the  lyre,  I  did  imagine  that  I  might  one 
day  claim  a  homely  garland  of  cedar  for  my  song,  and 


Mt.  40.]  LOVE   OF  POETRY.  245 

this  I  felt  would  be  amaranth  for  me.  But  it  was 
well  that  I  was  early  turned  from  poetasting,  and  that 
severer  guides  pointed  me  to  pursuits  better  suited  to 
my  capacity.  Yet  in  the  walks  which  I  take  through 
nature  in  quest  of  truth  and  demonstration,  I  recog- 
nize a  poetry  in  earth  and  sea  and  sky,  ruled  hi  their 
cycles  of  harmonious  actions,  deeper  and  more  sublime 
than  ever  muse  untaught  in  science  could  inspire.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Kogers's  reference  to  "severer  guides"  will 
remind  the  reader  of  Matthew  Arnold's  lines :  — 

"  For  rigorous  teachers  seized  my  youth, 
And  purged  its  faith  and  trimmed  its  fire,  — 
Showed  me  the  high  white  star  of  truth, 
There  bade  me  gaze,  and  there  aspire." 

As  long  as  he  lived  Mr.  Rogers  kept  fresh  and 
keen  his  love  for  poetry,  to  the  reading  of  which  he 
was  fond  of  listening  for  hours  at  a  tune. 

On  the  day  when  he  wrote  the  last  letter,  he  wrote 
to  Professor  Bailey,  of  West  Point :  — 

.  .  .  "  It  is  a  sad  truth  that  the  studies  of  men  of 
science,  fraught  as  they  are  with  ennobling  and  fra- 
ternizing influences,  are  often  perverted  from  those 
higher  uses,  and  pursued  mainly  as  the  instruments  of 
paltry  gain  and  grasping  ambition.  When  this  is  the 
case  we  witness  the  mortifying  spectacle  of  a  mind  at 
once  the  abode  of  various  knowledge,  and  of  envy, 
malice  and  all  uncharitableness ;  and  we  cannot  but 
lament  the  insensibility  of  the  unworthy  priests  of 
Nature  who,  while  ministering  at  her  shrines,  are  un- 
penetrated  by  her  gentle  lessons  of  kindness  and 
world-embracing  liberality." 

The  following  concerning  the  "  spoils  system  "  is  of 
contemporary  interest :  — 


246          THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1845. 


LUCIAN   MINOR,    ESQ.,   TO   W.    B.    ROGERS. 

LOUISA  C.  H.,  VA.,  March  31, 1845. 

Help  me  to  help  Mr.  Polk  from  doing  a  great 
wrong,  —  nay  (as  Talleyrand  says)  much  worse,  —  a 
great  blunder.  They  say  he  will  remove  Blackford.1 
If  he  do  so,  where  can  proscription  stop  ?  It  will  be 
the  most  palpable  and  outrageous  application  of  the 
spoils  principle  yet  known  in  our  government.  The 
decapitation  of  Jonathan  Roberts  was  a  trifle  to  it,  for 
he  was  old,  and  Mr.  Tyler  may  have  found  him  in- 
competent. But  B.'s  imperturbable  temper,  winning 
manners,  shrewd  knowledge  of  men,  and  tact  in  get- 
ting at  their  thoughts  and  at  their  blind  sides,  fit  him 
preeminently  for  diplomacy,  while  he  has  a  straight- 
forward honesty  that  puts  to  shame  and  to  rout  the 
old-fashioned  belief  that  the  affairs  of  nations  are  to 
be  successfully  managed  only  by  jobbery. 

Whatever  is  done  must  be  done  quickly.  I  have 
merely  drawn  the  hint  of  an  address  to  the  President, 
which  I  hope  you  will  throw  into  such  form  as  it 
ought  to  have,  get  it  signed  by  all  of  the  Faculty  who 
supported  Mr.  Polk  (including  yourself),  and  send  to 
him.  If  he  go  on  with  this  spoils  system,  his  political 
school  will  break  down  at  the  end  of  four  years,  or 
eight  at  all  events.  Then  we  shall  have  Bank,  etc., 
all  upon  us,  and  they  will  not  be  half  so  bad  as  that 
system. 

In  April  the  "  rioting "  of  students  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia  was  resumed  and  carried  to  such  a 
pitch  that  the  civil  authority  had  to  be  invoked  for  its 
suppression. 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  4,  1845. 
.  .  .  Since  our  last  letter  to  you  we  have  had  some 
renewal  of  our  college  disorders,  consisting  chiefly  in 
1  Charge"  d' Affaires  of  the  United  States  at  Bogota. 


&T.  40.]  STUDENT  RIOTS.  247 

displays  of  indignation  from  students  who  had  in- 
curred punishment,  and  resulting  two  nights  ago  in  a 
most  signal  exposure  by  Robert  of  one  of  the  band 
of  horn-blowers. 

A  number  of  the  students  turned  out  with  horns 
and  drum,  as  they  had  often  done  this  session,  to  sere- 
nade the  Professors  and  particularly  the  Chairman, 
and  in  passing  up  Robert's  alley  some  one  of  them 
tapped  upon  the  window  shutters  of  his  parlor,  where 
Fanny  and  a  friend  were  seated.  Robert  was  out  at 
the  time,  but  on  his  return  he  found  Fanny  very  much 
agitated;  and  soon  after,  hearing  the  party  again 
approaching,  he  went  out  and  took  his  station  behind 
one  of  the  columns  in  the  little  alcove  in  front  of  his 
house.  As  the  musicians  passed  on,  making  their 
infernal  din,  one  of  the  marauders  approached  the 
door,  and  was  about  placing  his  foot  on  the  mat,  when 
Robert  seized  him  by  the  cloak,  and,  allowing  him  a 
little  rope  until  he  reached  the  grass,  actually  picked 
him  up  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  crowd  and  car- 
ried him  into  the  parlor,  where  the  full  blaze  of  the 
lamp  disclosed  to  us  and  the  ladies  who  he  was.  None 
of  the  bystanders  attempted  to  interpose  after  being 
warned  by  Robert  that  he  was  armed,  and  that  if  they 
approached  him  it  should  be  at  their  peril. 

The  young  man  thus  apprehended,  though  occa- 
sionally noisy,  has  been  rather  a  good  student,  though 
very  much  of  a  coward.  Adam  Empie  acted  a  very 
manly  part  in  arresting  the  excitement  which  this 
bold  exploit  of  Robert  created  among  the  students, 
and  in  giving  them  a  true  account  of  all  the  circum- 
stances. .  .  . 

We  have  so  large  an  admixture  this  year  of  cow- 
ardly rowdies  amongst  us  that  some  signal  demonstra- 
tion of  the  proper  mode  of  dealing  with  them  cannot 
help  being  salutary,  and  it  will  be  useful  for  them  to 
learn  that  we  are  prepared  to  punish  their  insults  on 
the  spot.  I  think  that  we  are  not  likely  to  have  any 
more  of  these  very  annoying  occurrences.  Certainly 


248          THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1845. 

the  history  of  the  session  thus  far  has  been  most  dis- 
creditable to  the  character  of  the  students.  Yet  we 
have  a  large  number  of  very  well-disposed,  correct 
young  men,  but  no  one  among  them  of  that  moral 
weight  and  energy  of  character  which  might  effectu- 
ally resist  and  break  down  the  organized  band  of  the 
idle  and  mischievous. 

Almost  every  Faculty  meeting  witnesses  a  suspen- 
sion or  dismission,  and  this  had  of  course  created 
much  heart-burning,  and  awakened  some  vindictive 
feeling.  Unfortunately,  we  have  no  way  of  compel- 
ling dismissed  students  to  go  home,  and  hence  those 
from  the  far  South  linger  for  months  about  the  tav- 
erns of  Charlottesville,  rioting  in  dissipation  and 
tempting  away  their  former  associates  at  the  Univer- 
sity. But  enough  of  this.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  29,  1845. 

It  gives  me  real  pain  to  be  compelled  to  forego  the 
pleasure  I  have  been  long  anticipating  in  meeting  my 
scientific  friends  and  brethren  at  New  Haven.  Though 
I  well  know  that  the  official  duties  which  would  de- 
volve upon  me,  were  I  there,  will  be  far  more  satisfac- 
torily discharged  by  the  member  who  may  be  chosen 
to  fill  my  place,  I  would  most  gladly  have  embraced 
the  opportunity  of  this  meeting  to  evince  my  hearty 
zeal  in  the  purposes  of  the  Association,  and  my  anxiety 
to  extend  still  more  widely  the  sphere  of  its  scientific 
activity. 

Public  rumour  and  the  newspaper  have  already 
spread  far  and  wide  the  reports  of  our  riots,  and  my 
professional  brethren,  who  have  doubtless  all  had 
some  unpleasant  experiences  of  this  kind,  can  readily 
understand  the  urgent  causes  which  compel  my  ab- 
sence from  the  meeting.  The  peculiar  responsibility 
of  my  position  as  Chairman  of  the  Faculty  increases 
the  necessity  of  my  presence  here  ;  for  although  per- 
fect tranquillity  has  been  restored,  I  am  yet  in  the 
midst  of  a  laborious  correspondence  connected  with 


Mr.  40.]  RIOTS.  249 

the  action  of  the  college  authorities,  and  the  inquiries 
and  applications  of  the  friends  and  parents  of  our 
pupils.  .  .  . 

We  are  now  enjoying  peace,  the  lectures  are  pro- 
ceeding as  usual,  and  some  of  those  who  in  alarm 
retreated  from  the  scene  when  the  riots  were  at  their 
height  are  beginning  to  return.  .  .  . 

Robert  and  Fanny  have  given  you  some  of  the  de- 
tails, and  I  am  too  much  exhausted  by  anxiety  and 
toil,  and  too  sick  of  the  disgusting  scenes  through 
which  we  have  passed,  to  enter  upon  a  history  of  the 
disorders.  The  annals  of  college  disturbances  could 
hardly  furnish  another  narrative  as  disgraceful  to  the 
character  of  the  youth  of  the  country  as  the  history  of 
this  would  be.  On  such  occasions  generally  the  dis- 
orderly and  rebellious  have  some  real  or  supposed 
cause  to  allege  as  the  provocation  of  their  open  de- 
fiance of  the  law.  But  in  this  instance,  although  many 
were  questioned  on  the  subject,  no  one  attempted, 
until  within  the  last  day  or  two  of  the  disorders, 
to  assign  any  reason  whatever  for  their  systematic 
progress  in  disorder  and  outrage.  The  newspaper 
reports,  ascribing  the  outrages  to  censures  pronounced 
by  myself  and  others  in  the  lecture-room,  are  utterly 
untrue.  The  remarks  made  there  by  us  were  subse- 
quent to  nearly  all  the  attacks,  and  after  they  had  been 
continued  with  increasing  violence  for  weeks.  So, 
also,  the  statement  that  my  severe  enforcement  of  the 
regulations  had  produced  general  resistance.  If  I 
have  committed  any  fault  in  my  administration,  it 
has  been  that  of  over-gentleness  and  not  rigour. 

We  are  now  preparing  a  circular  which  will  be  sent 
to  all  the  parents  and  guardians  and  printed  in  some 
of  the  papers.  I  drew  up  such  an  one  as  I  thought 
most  suitable,  containing  a  brief  narrative  of  facts, 
and  an  earnest  setting  forth  of  the  importance  of  the 
step  by  the  Faculty  in  calling  in  the  civil  power. 
My  colleagues  seemed  to  think  that  it  was  too  earn- 
est in  manner,  and  are  now,  I  believe,  trying  to 


250  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1845. 

freeze  it  down  to  suit  their  own  timid  notions  of  pro- 
priety. 

We  have  now,  at  least,  the  comfortable  assurance 
of  quiet  for  the  remainder  of  the  session.  But  I  con- 
fess, my  dear  Henry,  that  I  feel  so  little  sure  of  ex- 
emption from  like  humbling  and  disgraceful  disorders 
in  future  that  I  intend  earnestly  to  look  about  me  for 
some  other  and  more  tranquil  home.  .  .  . 

Of  our  prospects  I  am  not  very  hopeful.  Perhaps 
the  Legislature  may  be  induced  to  make  some  provi- 
sion for  our  future  police  by  establishing  a  Judge  on  the 
precincts,  and  exempting  us  from  all  duties  but  those 
of  instruction.  This  is  rather  a  dream  than  a  hope. 

The  "  circular  "  referred  to  above  as  having  been  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  Rogers  is  given  in  full  in  the  Appendix.1 

On  May  27, 1845,  Mr.  Rogers  was  elected  a  Fellow 
of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  in 
Boston. 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  June  6,  1845. 
.  .  .  New  schemes  of  organization  are  likely  to 
occupy  the  Visitors,  and  among  them  one  greatly 
talked  of  abroad,  and  I  understand  very  popular  with 
several  of  the  Board,  is  the  making  the  Chairmanship 
permanent,  or  perhaps  appointing  a  President  as  at 
other  colleges.  Every  one  you  know  has  his  nostrum 
for  college  evils,  and  this  seems  to  be  in  great  favour 
just  now.  Some  of  the  professors  seem  inclined  to 
favour  the  plan,  but  I  believe  a  majority  object  to  it. 
The  want  of  uniformity  of  administration  is  the  ob- 
jection to  the  present  system  upon  which  the  friends 
of  this  scheme  place  their  great  reliance.  This  is, 
doubtless,  a  serious  evil,  but  they  have  not  adverted 
to  the  evils  of  the  plan  they  advocate.  Could  we,  by 
having  a  permanent  Chairman,  be  spared  individually 
the  harassing  cares  and  disquietude  of  our  present 
system,  I  should  almost  be  disposed  to  welcome  the 

i  Page  413. 


JET.  40.]    VISIT  TO  THE  WHITE  MOUNTAINS.      251 

new  plan  with  all  its  risks.  But  with  no  such  relief 
from  odious  and  onerous  duties  of  discipline,  the  pro- 
fessors could  reap  no  advantage  from  the  change 
commensurate  with  the  evils  it  might  inflict. 

What  we  want  most  of  all  is  some  effectual  legal 
means  of  enforcing  discipline  by  compelling  evidence, 
and  this  can  only  be  secured  by  legislation  directed  to 
that  end.  It  seems,  however,  to  be  generally  thought 
that  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  such  an  organiza- 
tion are  too  serious  to  justify  the  hope  that  with  any 
recommendation  of  the  Board  the  Legislature  would 
be  induced  to  frame  a  series  of  laws  for  the  purpose. 

You  thus  see  we  are  on  the  eve  of  interesting  dis- 
cussions, if  not  momentous  events.  .  .  . 

It  may  easily  be  imagined  that  Mr.  Rogers  needed 
rest  and  relaxation  after  his  year  of  arduous  and  diffi- 
cult service  as  Chairman  of  the  Faculty,  especially 
as  this  service  was  added  to  the  regular  duties  of  his 
professorship.  He  therefore  turned  his  face  north- 
ward and,  after  a  brief  stay  in  Philadelphia,  made 
with  his  brother  Henry  a  journey  through  the  White 
Mountains  of  New  England.  It  was  on  this  journey 
that  the  brothers  found  themselves  fellow-travellers 
with  the  family  of  Mr.  James  Savage,  of  Boston,  whose 
eldest  daughter  afterwards  became  Mr.  Rogers's  wife. 

Later  in  the  season  the  brothers  William  and 
Henry  visited  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior,  which 
Henry  was  under  engagement  to  explore  for  Boston 
friends  with  a  view  to  the  location  of  copper. 

The  following  incident  is  taken  from  Mr.  Rogers's 
note-book  of  this  tour :  — 

..."  Here  I  found  a  congregation  of  eager  travel- 
lers, preparing,  some  of  them,  to  enter  upon  their  lake 
rambles,  others  to  return  to  winter  on  the  inhospitable 
shores  of  the  great  inland  sea. 


252  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1845. 

"  One  of  these  persons  especially  excited  my  curiosity 
and  conduced  to  my  inward  mirth.  He  had  scarcely 
seen  me  landed  when  with  oiliest  speech  imaginable  he 
propounded  question  after  question  with  a  delibera- 
tion and  searching  personality  quite  overwhelming. 
He  was  accompanied  by  an  oldish,  plain,  blunt  man, 
who,  without  knowing  the  difference  between  a  copper 
vein  and  a  weathercock,  had  no  doubt  been  selected 
by  one  of  the  countless  mining  companies  of  New 
York  to  explore  and  report  to  them,  on  the  ground  of 
his  perfect  honesty  and  singleness  of  purpose.  The 
good,  simple-hearted  old  gentleman  told  me  an  amus- 
ing story  of  one  of  his  co-representatives  of  the  min- 
ing corporation.  This  worthy,  sent  to  the  mining 
country  to  explore  and  secure  proper  locations, 
stopped  on  the  way  at  Detroit,  and  was  there  found 
by  my  informant,  quietly  writing  a  detailed  report  of 
the  location,  with  the  contents  and  character  of  all  of 
the  veins,  the  whole  material  of  his  long  document 
being  derived  from  verbal  reports  communicated  to 
him  in  Detroit.  When  the  old  gentlemen  expressed 
surprise  at  his  pretending  to  give  a  detailed  account 
of  the  country  without  even  looking  at  it,  he  promptly 
answered  that  he  was  quite  certain  of  being  able  to 
furnish  a  much  fuller  and  more  accurate  account  of 
the  company's  location  by  availing  himself  of  the 
information  accessible  in  Detroit  than  by  visiting 
and  exploring  the  location  in  person.  The  report, 
drawn  up  by  one  who  is,  I  suppose,  an  expert  law- 
yer, —  I  forget  his  name,  —  will  no  doubt  appear  in 
print,  and  make  quite  a  sensation  on  Wall  Street." 

When  the  time  came  for  Mr.  Eogers  to  return  to 
the  University,  he  left  Henry  at  Lake  Superior  and 
travelled  to  Virginia  by  the  lakes  and  Albany. 

In  his  farewell  letter  to  Henry  the  following 
occurs : — 


#h\  40.]  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD.  253 

SATJLT  DE  STE.  MABDE,  September,  1845. 
MY  DEAR  HENRY,  ...  I  shall  be  almost  contin- 
ually thinking  of  you,  my  dear  brother,  and  shall 
never  lie  down  at  night  without  sending  from  a  full 
heart  my  anxiously  affectionate  wishes  towards  you. 
While  painting  the  wild  scene  around  you,  on  the 
heaving  waters,  along  the  pebbly  or  the  rocky  coast, 
in  the  mazes  of  the  entangled  swamp,  or  upon  the  fir- 
spread  couch  of  the  tent,  brightened  and  warmed  by 
the  blazing  log-fire,  I  shall  long  earnestly  that  I  were 
still  the  companion  of  your  wanderings  and  toils,  and 
the  helper  of  your  researches.  .  .  . 

On  the  lake  steamer  he  addressed  to  Mr.  George  S. 
Hillard,  of  Boston,  a  friendly  letter,  to  which  the  fol- 
lowing was  the  reply :  — 

FROM   GEORGE   S.    HILLARD,   ESQ. 

BOSTON,  October  18,  1845. 

I  am  much  indebted  to  you  for  your  kind  and 
warm-hearted  letter  and  the  friendly  interest  it  ex- 
presses. In  making  the  acquaintance  of  you  and 
your  brothers,  I  feel  that  I  have  added  much  to  my 
stores  of  social  wealth.  A  man  does  not  easily  make 
new  friends  after  thirty,  at  least  a  man  so  reserved 
as  I  am;  but  you  and  your  brothers  seem  like  old 
friends,  and  my  nature  flows  into  yours  as  readily 
as  one  stream  into  another.  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to 
me  to  have  the  opportunity  of  contributing  to  Henry's 
comfort,  and  to  give  him  the  refreshments  and  satis- 
factions of  home.  He  is  like  a  brother  to  me,  and  I 
look  forward  to  a  happy  winter  in  his  society.  .  .  . 
You  belong  here,  in  dear  Massachusetts,  dear  in 
spite  of  its  stormy  coast  and  barren  soil,  and  were  I 
a  dictator,  I  would  transplant  you  at  once.  And  an- 
other thing  would  I  do  for  you,  —  persuade  you  to  sur- 
render to  the  silken  yoke  of  matrimony.  You  have 
too  warm  a  heart  and  too  domestic  tastes  not  to  twine 


254  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1845. 

some  gentle  being's  name  with  yours.  So  pray,  set 
your  face  northward  and  wifeward. 

Our  social  life  is  relapsing  into  its  usual  winter 
channel.  The  season  promises  to  be  very  gay,  the 
natural  consequence  of  a  very  prosperous  year.  Every 
interest  in  New  England  is  in  a  palmy  state  of  suc- 
cess ;  whether  we  are  not,  morally  speaking,  waxing 
fat  and  kicking,  may  be  doubted.  The  native  Ameri- 
can party  in  this  State  is  pursuing  a  most  unprincipled 
and  mischievous  course,  and  I  fear  the  most  disas- 
trous consequences  from  them.  There  is  no  greater 
evil  in  our  country  than  the  formation  of  parties 
upon  collateral  and  immaterial  issues,  for  the  end  is 
always  to  throw  power  into  the  hands  of  that  party 
which  pursues  its  ends  with  an  arrow-like  directness, 
which  always  presents  an  unbroken  front,  and  which 
has  a  polypus-like  power  of  reunion  whenever  it  is 
severed.  There  are  and  can  be  only  two  parties  hi  a 
country  like  ours  :  the  conservatives  and  the  destruc- 
tives ;  I  do  not  like  this  latter  word,  but  you  know  my 
meaning,  the  antagonism  of  conservatism.  Mr.  Caleb 
Gushing  delivered  a  lecture  here,  a  night  or  two  ago, 
which  (as  I  learn,  for  I  did  not  hear  it)  was  very 
pernicious  in  its  tendency.  It  was  a  glorification  of 
our  country  and  an  abuse  of  all  others,  and  an  ex- 
hortation to  do  everything  to  advance  the  physical 
greatness  of  the  country,  to  get  all  the  land  we  can, 
and  make  ourselves  as  formidable  as  possible,  but  not 
one  word  of  warning,  or  rebuke,  no  vibration  of  a 
moral  chord.  I  have  no  patience  with  a  public  man 
who  thus  panders  to  the  worst  passions  of  the  multi- 
tude, instead  of  elevating  and  improving  them.  .  .  . 

The  Savages  are  all  well  and  hold  you  in  fresh  re- 
membrance. .  .  . 

The  Lyells l  are  at  the  Tremont  House,  but  I  have 
not  seen  them.  .  .  .  Our  new  house  will  be  finished 
before  your  next  summer's  flitting,  and  I  shall  depend 

1  Mr.  Lyell  had  come  to  Boston  to  give  another  course  of  lectures 
at  the  Lowell  Institute.  :  * 


^T.41.]  TURNER'S  CHEMISTRY.  255 

upon  a  long  visit  from  you.     We  shall  always  have  a 
"  chamber  in  the  wall  "  for  any  of  your  name. 

As  may  be  gathered  from  Mr.  Hillard's  letter,  it 
had  already  been  arranged  that  Henry  should  leave 
Philadelphia  and  make  his  home  in  Boston  in  the 
house  of  Mr.  Hillard.  This,  on  his  return  from  Michi- 
gan, he  did.  Amidst  his  regular  duties,  William 
found  time  to  write  the  preface  to  an  American  edi- 
tion of  "  Turner's  Chemistry,"  which  had  been  pre- 
pared by  his  brothers  James  and  Robert  and  which 
was  now  issuing  from  the  press. 

WILLIAM   TO   HENBY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  December  3, 1845. 

.  .  .  Robert  is  pushing  on  actively  with  some  chem- 
ical matters  in  which  we  are  jointly  engaged,  my  share 
being  chiefly  that  of  office  counsel,  and  he  doing  most 
of  the  laboratory  work. 

James  writes  that  he  has  just  completed  the  index, 
and  that  we  may  expect  to  have  the  book  in  the  mar- 
ket in  a  few  days.  When  you  meet  with  a  copy,  I 
wish  you  to  look  over  the  article  on  Heat,  which  I 
think  you  will  pronounce  to  be  a  great  improvement 
upon  Turner.  .  .  . 

My  dear  Henry,  I  revert  hourly  in  affectionate 
sympathy  to  all  your  plans  and  interests,  and  more 
than  ever  long  to  be  joined  in  labour  and  in  social 
relaxation  with  you.  You  are  right  in  your  view  of 
the  advantages  of  the  quiet  we  enjoy  here  for  liter- 
ary pursuits,  and  could  we  now  and  then  exchange 
the  monotony  of  our  life  for  the  happy  excitement  of 
a  truly  refined  and  stimulating  intercourse,  we  could 
have  no  reason  to  complain.  But  I  am  cultivating 
cheerful  contentment  with  things  as  they  are,  look- 
ing for  happier  conditions  of  life  in  the  future  — 
that  future  which  I  yet,  even  as  when  a  boy,  gild 


256  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1846. 

with  a  brightness  which  sober  folks  might  deem  po- 
etical. . . . 

William  had  desired  Henry  to  report  to  him  con- 
cerning the  feeling  in  Boston  and  at  Harvard  in  re- 
gard to  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  having 
for  a  university  a  President,  instead  of  a  Chairman 
of  the  Faculty.  The  following  opinion  of  President 
Quincy  is  now  an  educational  curiosity :  — 

HENBY   TO   WILLIAM. 

BOSTON,  February  25,  1846. 

.  .  .  Yesterday  in  a  long  conversation  with  Mr. 
Quincy,  the  old  gentleman  told  me  that  he  deemed  the 
functions  of  the  President  of  the  utmost  relief  to  the 
Faculty.  He  had  no  duties  as  instructor,  but  his 
great  business  was  to  overlook  the  conduct  of  the 
young  men,  and  by  timely  interference  prevent  bad 
habits,  detect  delinquencies,  and  administer  reproof 
and  punishment  in  all  instances  in  which  he  could, 
apart  from  the  Faculty.  He  will,  he  says,  give  any 
information  the  Visitors  or  Faculty  may  desire,  and 
he  sends,  at  my  suggestion,  a  copy  of  his  pamphlet 
to  Mr.  Cabell,  Mr.  Stevenson  and  Mr.  Randolph.  I 
shall  mail  them  to-day.  ... 

The  following  letter  probably  marks  the  first  step 
towards  the  intimate  relations  which  now  exist  be- 
tween the  Lowell  Institute  and  the  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute of  Technology :  — 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

BOSTON,  March  8,  1846. 

A  few  days  ago  I  mentioned  how  my  affairs  were 
looking,1  and  promised  to  write  again  whenever  I 
should  gather  any  further  knowledge  of  the  intentions 
of  the  Corporation  [of  Harvard  University].  ...  It 
1  Henry  Rogers  was  at  this  time  a  candidate  for  the  Rumford 
Professorship  at  Harvard. 


lEn.  41.]  PRESIDENT  QUINCY.  257 

has  been  Peirce's  darling  wish  for  a  long  time  past 
to  reorganize  the  Scientific  Corps  of  the  Faculty ; 

but  this  they  cannot  do,  with in  the  way,  and 

he  fears  that  if  the  Rumford  Chair  is  filled  without 
other  changes  being  made,  a  golden  occasion  will  be 
lost  for  the  more  thorough  reform  which  he  desires. 
...  If  they  can  effect  what  they  desire,  they  will 
make  a  sort  of  extra-faculty  school  of  science  for  the 
use  of  young  men  who  desire  a  scientific  education 
without  the  diploma  of  the  college  and  without  the 
classics,  etc.,  and  who  would  not  even  be  undergradu- 
ates of  the  college.  And  they  would  place  the  E-um- 
ford  Professor  at  the  head,  in  the  central  position  in 
this  corps,  and  select  him  for  his  practical  familiarity 
with  the  useful  arts,  —  a  man  such  as  Treadwell  might 
have  been  if  he  had  given  himself  to  the  chair  only. 
Whether  this  is  a  feasible  plan,  I  am  not  quite  pre- 
pared to  say,  so  difficult  would  it  be  to  find  a  mechan- 
ician, an  accomplished  engineer  in  the  wider  sense, 
who  would  also  be  an  able  teacher ;  but  if  successful, 
it  would  be  a  good  thing  for  this  community  and  for 
the  college. 

But  I  have  to  speak  of  another  interesting  matter. 
Mr.  Lowell,  with  whom  I  have  been  talking,  after  men- 
tioning the  feature  in  the  Lowell  will  which  enjoins 
the  creation  of  classes  in  the  Institute  to  receive  exact 
instruction  in  useful  knowledge,  requested  me  to  give 
him,  in  writing,  the  views  I  had  just  been  unfolding  of 
the  value  of  a  School  of  Arts  as  a  branch  to  the  Lowell 
Institute.  My  communication  to  the  corporation  has, 
I  am  sure,  made  an  impression  on  him,  and  it  is  pos- 
sible he  has  seen,  by  what  is  there  stated,  the  impor- 
tance of  teaching  science  in  its  applied  forms  in  this 
community.  He  is  a  very  cautious  man,  desires  never 
to  make  a  mis-move,  fears  to  expand  his  Institute  too 
fast,  and  has  had  doubts  of  the  practicability  of  at- 
taching this  sort  of  practical  College  to  the  Institute, 
lest  it  might  be  too  large  an  affair  to  build;  but  he 
sees  its  value,  and  now  is  a  fine  occasion  to  inspire 


258  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1846. 

him  with  the  zeal  which  he  is  quite  capable  of  feeling 
in  its  behalf.  His  plan  would  be  to  teach  the  oper- 
ative classes  of  society,  —  builders,  engineers,  practical 
chemists,  manufacturers,  etc. ;  to  admit  in  the  first 
year  only  in  limited  numbers,  and  to  teach  them  regu- 
larly; to  have,  perhaps,  two  permanent  and  salaried 
professors  at  the  head  of  it,  and  to  make  up  the  rest  of 
the  instruction  by  assistants  and  by  teachers,  who  would 
give  courses  of  instruction  occasionally  on  special 
branches.  How  much  I  want  you  near  me  at  this  time 
to  aid  me  in  digesting  and  submitting  my  views  on  this 
important  scheme  to  Mr.  Lowell !  If  you  and  myself 
could  be  at  the  head  of  this  Polytechnic  School  of  the 
Useful  Arts,  it  would  be  pleasanter  for  us  than  any 
college  professorship,  for  there  would  be  less  disci- 
pline, indeed,  no  more  than  with  medical  students. 
At  no  distant  day,  if  not  indeed  soon,  Mr.  Lowell  will, 
I  hope,  organize  such  a  branch  in  his  Institute ;  and  if 
he  does  not,  you  and  I  can  surely  get  one  founded  here 
by  going  about  it  in  the  right  way.  Let  us  give  this 
matter  our  earnest  and  sober  thoughts,  remembering 
that  if  I  get  the  professorship  in  Harvard,  it  will 
rather  promote  the  plan  than  mar  it.  Can  you  send 
me  a  copy  of  our  memorial  on  behalf  of  the  Franklin 
Institute  for  a  School  of  Arts  ? 1  I  have  none  by  me, 
and  shall  write  to-morrow  to  Philadelphia  for  a  copy ; 
perhaps  you  have  one,  but  what  is  better  yet,  give  me 
your  ideas  in  a  letter,  however  hastily  expressed,  as 
soon  as  conveniently  practicable,  and  tell  me  where  I 
can  see  what  was  said  at  the  starting  of  the  London 
Mechanics'  Institute,  etc.  Take  Robert  into  counsel, 
and  draw  up  a  scheme  of  study :  enumerate  the  things 
to  be  taught,  the  nature  of  the  apparatus  for  instruction 
aiming  at  economy,  and  show  me  your  ideas  of  the 
value  of  science  in  this  its  great  modern  application 
to  the  practical  arts  of  life,  to  human  comfort  and 
health,  and  to  social  wealth  and  power. 

1  A  Memorial  to  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  presented  about 
1837.    (See  p.  263.) 


.  41.]          THE  LOWELL   INSTITUTE.  259 


WILLIAM   TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  13,  1846. 
Your  interesting  letter  of  the  8th  inst.  came  to  hand 
this  morning.  Your  prospects  of  some  acceptable  place 
in  Harvard  are,  I  think,  almost  as  good  as  could  be 
wished,  and  should  the  proposed  change  be  effected, 
I  should  count  certainly  on  your  success.  Were  this 
or  any  other  promotion  of  your  views  to  lead  here- 
after to  a  closer  union  of  our  labours  by  placing  me 
also  in  the  congenial  air  of  Boston,  I  would  indeed 
rejoice.  Under  circumstances  so  auspicious  for  effort 
in  teaching  and  research  we  could,  I  am  sure,  both  of 
us  be  more  productive  and  far  happier  in  our  labours 
than  can  be  now.  Ever  since  I  have  known  some- 
thing of  the  knowledge-seeking  spirit,  and  the  intel- 
lectual capabilities  of  the  community  in  and  around 
Boston,  I  have  felt  persuaded  that  of  all  places  in  the 
world  it  was  the  one  most  certain  to  derive  the  high- 
est benefits  from  a  Polytechnic  Institution.  The  occu- 
pations and  interests  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
are  immediately  connected  with  the  applications  of 
physical  science,  and  their  quick  intelligence  has  al- 
ready impressed  them  with  just  ideas  of  the  value  of 
scientific  teaching  in  their  daily  pursuits.  Besides 
this,  the  high  prevailing  taste,  diffused  from  the  upper 
to  the  inferior  classes  of  society,  inspires  an  earnest 
appetite  for  richer  intellectual  food  than  they  can  now 
readily  obtain. 

Mr.  Rogers  then  goes  on  to  formulate  at  length,  in 
answer  to  Henry's  request,  a  plan  for  a  Polytechnic 
School  in  Boston  (see  Appendix1),  and  continues:  — 

I  must  hastily  close.     To-morrow,  or  at  farthest  on 
Sunday,  I  will  jot  down  some  details  as  to  the  prac- 
tical bearing  of  the  different  branches  of  physics  and 
1  Page  420. 


260  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.       [1846. 

chemistry,  that  Mr.  Lowell  may  see  how  grand  a  field 
of  beneficence  lies  before  him. 

Your  devoted  brother, 

WILLIAM  B.  EOGERS. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  13, 1846. 

As  to-morrow  will  allow  me  no  leisure,  I  embrace 
the  hour  before  bed  to  make  some  additions  to  the 
matter  of  my  letter  committed  to  the  mail  this  after- 
noon, intending  to  complete  on  Sunday  what  I  have 
to  say. 

The  true  and  only  practicable  object  of  a  Polytechnic 
School  is,  as  I  conceive,  the  teaching,  not  of  the  ma- 
nipulations and  minute  details  of  the  arts,  which  can 
be  done  only  in  the  workshop,  but  the  inculcation  of 
all  the  scientific  principles  which  form  the  basis  and 
explanation  of  them,  and  along  with  this  a  full  and 
methodical  review  of  all  their  leading  processes  and 
operations  in  connection  with  physical  laws.  When 
thus  instructed  in  applied  science,  the  mechanician, 
chemist  or  manufacturer,  clearly  comprehending  the 
agencies  of  the  materials  and  instruments  with  which 
he  works,  is  saved  from  the  disasters  of  blind  experi- 
ment, guided  securely  because  understandingly  in  a 
profitable  routine,  or  directed  to  the  contrivance  of 
new  and  more  efficient  combinations.  Were  it  neces- 
sary at  this  day  to  adduce  proofs  of  these  practical 
fruits  of  instruction  in  physical  science,  we  might 
boldly  refer  to  the  unexampled  progress  of  every 
branch  of  the  arts  for  the  last  fifty  years  as  but  the 
result  of  the  general  diffusion  of  a  better  knowledge  of 
physical  laws,  which  has  flowed  from  the  researches  of 
men  specially  devoted  to  natural  science.  Bearing 
in  mind,  too,  how  few  of  the  almost  countless  products 
of  ingenuity,  even  in  these  times,  are  of  real  and  per- 
manent value,  and  how  immense  the  number  of  utterly 
barren  inventions,  the  laboured  contrivances  of  acute 
but  undirected  or  misguided  minds,  we  cannot  but  be- 
lieve that,  with  a  proper  training  in  science,  the  host 


-ET.  41.]  PLAN  FOR  A  POLYTECHNIC  SCHOOL.  261 

of  unprofitable  inventors  living  within  the  last  half  cen- 
tury would  have  contributed  innumerable  really  valu- 
able aids  to  human  industry,  and  have  advanced  the 
arts  to  a  stage  of  far  higher  improvement  than  they 
have  yet  attained.  What  stronger  argument  on  this 
head  could  be  asked  than  a  glance  at  the  encumbered 
cases  of  the  Patent  Office  in  Washington. 

Among  practical  pursuits  there  are  perhaps  none 
whose  dependence  upon  the  determinations  of  physical 
science  is  more  generally  recognized  than  those  of  the 
machinist,  the  engineer  and  the  architect.  Yet  even 
in  these  professions,  while  all  admit  that  many  of  the 
details  are  but  immediate  applications  of  the  leading 
laws  of  mechanical  philosophy,  how  few  have  formed  a 
just  conception  of  the  variety  and  extent  of  the  sciences 
they  involve.  In  the  first  place,  the  materials  used 
must  be  studied  in  their  more  important  mechanical 
and  chemical  relations.  The  strength  of  beams  of 
timber  and  metal  of  various  shapes  and  dimensions, 
and  placed  in  various  attitudes  in  buildings  or  machin- 
ery, must  be  computed  by  formulae  derived  from  sci- 
entific researches.  The  direction  and  energy  of  the 
forces  distributed  to  different  parts  of  the  structure 
according  to  the  arrangement  of  the  several  parts,  and 
the  position  of  the  load  or  other  pressure,  require  also 
to  be  known,  and  can  only  be  learned  by  an  appeal  to 
the  principles  of  mechanical  science.  So  also,  the 
durability  of  the  materials  employed  in  masonry  can 
'  only  be  safely  inferred  from  a  knowledge  of  their  com- 
position, and  the  chemical  actions  to  which  they  will 
be  subjected  when  exposed  to  the  air  or  water,  or 
both,  or  when  submitted,  as  in  the  walls  of  a  furnace, 
to  intense  heat. 

The  machinist  should,  moreover,  clearly  understand 
all  the  principles  of  equilibrium  and  of  the  composi- 
tion of  forces ;  in  other  words,  the  general  doctrines 
of  statics  and  dynamics,  those  of  friction,  whether 
sliding  or  rolling,  the  mode  of  operation  of  the  vari- 
ous motive  powers  of  which  his  mechanism  is  to  be 


262  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.         [1846. 

the  conductor,  and  the  methods  of  computing  the  rela- 
tion between  the  force  applied  and  the  useful  effect 
obtained,  or,  in  other  words,  the  economical  value  of 
the  combination. 

The  road  engineer,  with  as  ample  knowledge  in  all 
these  particulars,  should  further  have  a  good  acquaint- 
ance with  the  mineral  and  geological  character  of  the 
region  in  which  he  operates,  should  know  when  to 
interpret  the  appearances  on  the  surface,  either  as  an 
encouragement  or  warning,  in  directing  his  tunnels  or 
other  excavations,  should  be  prepared  to  judge  of  the 
value  of  the  rocky  materials  he  encounters  in  build- 
ing an  embankment,  and  should  be  qualified  to  form 
an  estimate  of  the  relative  advantages  of  different 
districts  as  influenced  by  the  extent  of  the  mineral 
products. 

Instruction  in  all  these  and  other  kindred  partic- 
ulars, essential  as  it  is  to  the  fullest  success  in  the 
several  pursuits  referred  to,  involves,  it  will  be  seen, 
no  insignificant  acquaintance  with  some  of  the  leading 
branches  of  mechanical  and  even  geological  and  chem- 
ical science. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  manufacturing  arts,  we  shall 
find  an  equal,  and  in  many  cases  even  a  more  urgent 
demand  for  scientific  guidance.  .  .  . 

The  remainder  of  this  letter  has  not  been  found ; 
it  formed  a  portion  of  the  "  Plan  "  given  in  Appen- 
dix C.1  (page  420). 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  21,  1846. 
DEAR  HENRY.  —  Owing  probably  to  the  freshet  in 
the  Susquehanna,  your  letter  of  the  16th  did  not  reach 
us  until  this  morning ;  from  the  same  cause  I  presume 
you  will  not  have  received  my  last,  also  mailed  on  the 
16th,  until  now.  In  that  and  the  preceding  I  have 
endeavoured  to  put  forth  the  practical  considerations 
which  occurred  to  me  as  strongly  recommending  a 
Polytechnic  School,  and  I  trust  you  will  find  my  sug- 
1  The  missing  portion  was  afterwards  discovered,  and  is  included  in 
Appendix  C. 


Mi.  41.]       CHEERFUL  ANTICIPATIONS.  263 

gestions  of  use  in  drawing  up  the  proposed  memorial 
to  Mr.  Lowell.  There  is  certainly  no  place  on  this 
side  the  Atlantic  where  such  an  institution  would  be 
more  useful  and  popular.  If  well  managed  it  would 
give  Mr.  Lowell  just  cause  for  being  proud  of  the 
wise  liberality  of  the  appropriation. 

After  writing  my  last  I  remembered  that  in  both 
my  letters  I  had  omitted  to  mention  that  I  have  no 
copy  of  the  paper  we  drew  up  for  the  Franklin  Insti- 
tute, and  that  I  do  not  think  I  ever  saw  it  after 
leaving  you  on  that  occasion  in  Harrisburg.  I  trust 
you  will  be  able  to  recover  it  in  Philadelphia,  as 
it  contained  a  clear  and  forcible  exposition  of  the 
subject,  that  might  be  of  much  use  in  framing  your 
memorial. 

...  I  long  for  an  atmosphere  of  more  stimulating 
power.  College  recluses  are  liable  to  become  in  some 
degree  mentally  asphyxiated,  and  to  avoid  this  state 
ought,  if  possible,  to  plunge  often  into  the  more 
oxygenated  air  of  active,  bustling  life.  .  .  . 

Robert  and  I  will  put  our  heads  together  at  once 
to  plan  your  laboratory  arrangements.  I  have  al- 
ready written  out  a  pretty  full  scheme  for  lectures  on 
Water.  This,  with  some  additional  suggestions,  I 
shall  transmit  in  a  few  days. 

To-day  is,  you  know,  my  day  of  double  duty.  I 
have  lectured  this  morning  on  astronomy,  and  at 
three  o'clock  I  lecture  on  geology.  I  must,  there- 
fore, reserve  the  completion  of  this  until  after  my 
lecture.  .  .  . 

We  are  all  quite  well  and  enjoying  the  delightful 
weather  of  the  last  few  days.  Be  of  good  heart,  my 
dear  Henry,  we  are  together  strong,  and  delays,  or 
even  disappointment  of  hopes,  should  not  mar  our 
satisfaction.  By  and  by  we  shall  command  all  we 
wish. 

Kindest  regards  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hillard.  I  wish 
them  all  the  enjoyments  of  the  opening  spring. 


264  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1846. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  5, 1846. 

DEAR  HENRY,  —  I  am  yearly  becoming  more  im- 
patient of  the  lifeless  routine  around  me,  and  will 
indeed  be  most  happy  to  join  you  in  any  such  scheme 
as  that  of  a  Polytechnic  Institution,  either  under  the 
wing  of  the  Lowell  endowment,  or  other  suitable  and 
adequate  auspices. 

You  will  soon  begin,  even  in  Boston,  to  enjoy  the 
soft  air  and  freshening  verdure  and  bloom  of  spring. 
I  confess,  my  dear  Henry,  I  long  to  be  able  to  walk 
with  you  and  other  friends  on  the  Mall,  to  take  an 
exhilarating  drive  to  Brookline,  or  Cambridge,  or  the 
other  neighbouring  points  of  attraction,  but  above  all 
to  feel  the  impulses  of  a  higher  social  life,  which  have 
so  stirred  my  thoughts  in  my  visits  to  New  England. 
This  is  Sunday,  and  my  thoughts  have  been  with  you 
and  those  around  you  almost  since  I  awoke.  I  have 
thought  in  kind  affection  of  all  my  friends,  and  in 
fancy  been  with  you  in  Pinckney  Street,  and  paid  a 
delightful  visit  to  Temple  Court  where  I  began  to 
feel  so  much  at  home.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  May  30,  1846. 

DEAR  HENRY,  .  .  .  Have  you  seen  Murchi  son's 
"Russia  "?  All  the  reviews  are  trumpeting  its  praise. 
Some  time  ago  I  mentioned  his  having  adopted  the 
translation-wave  theory  of  drift,  which  in  the  "London 
Athena3um  "  is  highly  commended  for  its  force  and 
originality.  The  "  London  Quarterly  "  calls  his  work 
the  opus  magnum  of  Geology.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  Could  I  but  command  some  two  or  three 
months  of  unobstructed  leisure  at  a  good  working 
season  and  have  my  present  holiday  time  for  the 
field,  I  could,  I  think,  do  a  good  deal  at  the  pen. 
But  as  I  am  placed,  my  hours  are  but  remnants  of  the 
day,  in  which  I  still  feel  the  fatigue  or  anxiety  of 
college  duties,  and  there  is  no  social  stimulus  to  re- 
fresh and  enliven  the  mind  wearied  with  routine.  .  .  . 


.  41.]          ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA.  265 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  June  19, 1846. 

.  .  .  After  spending  a  short  time  in  and  about 
Boston,  I  propose  revisiting  Lake  Champlain  to  settle 
my  doubts  on  some  points  of  the  geology  referred  to 
by  Emmons.  My  sections  of  Vermont  being  thus 
completed,  and  the  obscurities  referred  to  explained, 
we  will,  I  think,  have  an  interesting  paper  on  that 
region  ready  for  the  New  York  meeting. 

I  have  lately  been  reading  "  Fremont's  Journal," 
with  his  map  before  me,  and  felt  an  itching  impa- 
tience to  be  able,  united  with  you,  to  reap  a  portion  of 
the  great  geological  field  west  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains. From  the  very  centre  of  Mexico,  all  the  way 
to  the  Columbia,  is  a  terra  incognita^  rich,  it  would 
seem,  in  geological  phenomena.  Must  we  not,  some 
day,  try  our  hammers  on  the  Sierra  Nevada,  and 
trace  the  Oolite  formation  and  others  already  reported 
of?  Is  it  not  interesting  to  find  coal  fossils  west  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains  bespeaking  the  Oolitic  period, 
and  thus  probably  the  counterpart  of  our  little  patch 
near  Richmond  ?  ...  It  will  be  no  news  to  tell  you 
that  the  Senate  are  now  discussing  a  treaty  with  Eng- 
land, and  that  in  a  day  or  two  we  may  look  for  its 
ratification.  This  will  give  new  vigour  to  enterprises 
of  all  kinds,  and  will  prove,  I  trust,  the  seal  of  per- 
petual peace  between  the  two  nations.  Of  what  sol- 
emn and  stupendous  importance  to  the  world  is  this 
event !  A  war  now  between  us  and  England  would 

Eut  back  for  generations  the  swelling  tide  of  benevo- 
;nce  and  world-sympathy,  which  bears  on  its  breast 
the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  the  wise  and  good.  We 
may  now  look  for  the  prevalence  of  humane  and  pacific 
counsels  among  all  the  great  nations,  —  for  what  Eng- 
land and  we  exemplify  and  adopt  for  international 
control  must  finally  become  the  law. 

You  see,  my  dear  Henry,  I  have  nothing  to  write  of 
but  my  own  thoughts,  but  these  will  I  know  come  to 
you  warm  with  a  brother's  earnest  affection. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PROFESSOR  OF  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY  AND  FOR  ONE 
TEAR  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  FACULTY  IN  THE  UNI- 
VERSITY OF  VIRGINIA  (continued). 

1846-1853. 

Arrival  of  Agassiz  in  America.  —  Foundation  of  Scientific  Schools  in 
Harvard  and  Yale.  —  Seventh  Annual  Meeting  of  Geologists  and 
Naturalists  in  Boston  with  Mr.  Rogers  Chairman.  —  James  appointed 
Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. — 
William  proposes  to  resign  his  Professorship  and  join  Henry  in 
Boston.  —  Degree  of  LL.  D.  from  Hampden-Sidney  College.  — 
Organization  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science.  —  Henry  again  visits  Europe.  —  His  Letters.  —  He  returns 
and  lectures  in  the  Lowell  Institute.  —  Death  of  James  Rogers  the 
Uncle.  —  William  invited  to  lecture  at  the  Smithsonian.  —  His 
Marriage.  —  Journey  to  Europe.  —  Birmingham  Meeting  of  the 
British  Association.  —  Return  to  the  University  of  Virginia.  —  Dr. 
Wayland  of  Brown  visits  the  University.  —  Kossuth's  visit  to  Amer- 
ica.—  Illness  and  Death  of  James.  —  Robert  appointed  his  Suc- 


THE  summer  of  1846  found  Mr.  Rogers  again  in 
Boston. 

TO   PIS   BROTHER   HENRY   AT  LAKE   SUPERIOR. 

BOSTON,  July  17, 1846. 

...  I  was  at  Cambridge  day  before  yesterday  with 
Sumner,  and  after  listening  to  the  closing  class  ora- 
tion by  young  Phillips  on  mathematics,  and  taking  the 
usual  lunch  in  his  rooms,  we  adjourned  to  Longfellow's, 
where  we  had  a  very  pleasant  sociable  family  dinner. 
Mrs.  and  Mr.  Longfellow  made  very  kind  inquiries 
after  you.  Mrs.  L.  came  up  to  me  as  I  entered,  and 
in  a  very  cordial  manner  took  my  hand  and  bade  me 


Mi.  42.]  LOUIS  AGASSIZ,  267 

welcome,  all  the  time  thinking  it  was  you.  Levering 
was  as  kind  as  usual,  and  has  just  written  to  ask  me 
to  come  down  and  see  him  and  Mrs.  Levering  at 
Nahant,  where  they  are  staying  for  her  health.  I  had 
some  talk,  also,  with  Peirce  and  Gray,  who  asked  in 
friendly  terms  about  you. 

Mr.  Rogers  returned  to  Virginia  in  the  autumn, 
and  Henry  writes  to  him  from  Boston. 

BOSTON,  October  7, 1846. 

DEAR  WILLIAM,  .  .  .  Agassiz  has  arrived  and 
will  lecture  [in  the  Lowell  Institute]  after  I  do.  He 
is  a  most  amiable,  engaging  and  philosophic  spirit.  .  .  . 
We  shall  see  much  of  each  other,  and  I  shall  draw  new 
power  and  impulse  from  him.  Verneuil l  sailed  yes- 
terday in  the  steamer. 

Agassiz  can  help  us  much  in  our  researches  among 
our  older  fossils.  .  .  . 

BOSTON,  October  24,  1846. 

.  .  .  Tell  me  where  it  was  we  found  the  fish  relics 
in  the  Matinal  Limestone,  and  say  if  you  have  the 
specimens,  and  if  they  are  undoubtedly  fish-like.  It 
will  be  a  very  important  point  if  we  can  be  the  first 
to  contradict  the  declaration  of  all  geologists  that  no 
vertebrates  occur  in  the  older  Silurian  period.  Agassiz 
says  we  ought  to  find  them  even  there,  and  the  laws  of 
progression  be  still  maintained.  .  .  . 

WILLIAM    TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  November  11, 1846. 
...  It  rejoices  me  to  learn  that  you  are  satisfying 
yourself  in  your  lectures ; 2  that  you  would  please  your 
class  I  never  had  the  slightest  doubt.  And  what  a 
class  you  have !  Eighteen  hundred  or  two  thousand 
auditors,  such  as  one  commands  in  Boston,  is,  perhaps, 
the  very  best  audience  assembled  anywhere  in  the 
world  to  listen  to  instruction  in  science.  .  .  . 

1  Edward  de  Verneuil,  a  distinguished  French  geologist. 

2  On  Geology,  before  the  Lowell  Institute. 


268  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1846. 

TO   GEORGE    S.    HILLARD,    ESQ. 
UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  November  15,  1846. 

.  .  .  S ,  from  whom  I  have  learned  a  great  deal 

of  Boston  and  Cambridge  gossip,  tells  me  that  Everett 
is  endeavouring  to  do  away  with  the  elective  studies 
and  make  all  the  students  pursue  the  same  course  as 
matter  of  compulsion.  This,  I  suppose,  is  in  imita- 
tion of  the  English  universities,  and  is,  I  think,  a 
great  stride  backwards.  Better  far  to  make  all  the 
studies  free,  and  place  Harvard  at  once  on  the  broad 
liberal  basis  of  one  of  the  German  schools.  I  ought 
not,  perhaps,  to  speak  so  positively,  as  after  all  per- 
haps Mr.  E.'s  views  are  not  what  are  ascribed  to  him, 
and  may  be  judicious  under  the  existing  arrangements 
at  Harvard.  .  .  . 

Robert  and  I  have  been  making  powder-cotton  [gun- 
cotton]  ,  of  which  so  much  is  said  in  the  papers.  Robert 
has  now  a  small  quantity  which  flashes  off  so  instantly 
as  not  to  fire  the  gunpowder  upon  which  it  is  placed. 
It  leaves  no  stain,  and  gives  scarcely  a  perceptible 
smoke.  I  suppose  by  this  time  the  Bostonians  have 
seen  this  interesting  product,  as  its  preparation  is  not 
difficult,  and  Jackson  would  have  the  means  at  hand 
readily  to  make  it.  ... 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  November  29,  1846. 
Have  you  seen  the  October  number  of  the  "  Athe- 
naeum "  ?  It  contains  a  rather  brief  account  of  the  do- 
ings of  the  last  British  Association,  and  among  other 
things  some  remarks  of  Lyell  concerning  the  Rich- 
mond coal.  You  remember  that  in  Horner's  address 
Lyell  is  made  to  intimate  his  doubt  of  the  accuracy 
of  my  reference  of  these  rocks  to  the  Oolite  period. 
Now  in  one  of  these  latter  statements  he  distinctly 
declares  that  Agassiz  has  pronounced  the  fish  to  be 
Oolite,  and  Bunbury  has  recognized  the  group  of 
plants  to  be  the  same  as  those  of  Whitby. 


^Ex.  42.]  ELECTIVE  STUDIES.  269 

Mr.  Rogers  was  under  engagement  at  this  time  to 
deliver  before  the  Mercantile  Library  Association  in 
Boston  a  lecture  on  "  The  Atmosphere,  or  the  Balance 
of  Nature  in  the  Vegetable  and  Animal  Kingdoms." 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  December  6,  1846. 

The  time  is  drawing  near,  my  dear  Henry,  when  I 
shall  have  the  joy  of  meeting  you  and  other  friends. 

We  are  enjoying  great  quiet  as  yet.  The  profes- 
sors have  been  giving  the  students  a  succession  of  very 
pleasant  parties,  and  the  utmost  good  feeling  thus  far 
prevails  with  nearly  all  the  young  men.  The  only 
symptom  of  mischief  that  has  occurred  was  the  explo- 
sion of  a  log  loaded  like  a  cannon  on  the  lawn  last  night 
a  little  after  supper-time.  We  have  no  apprehension  of 
any  recurrence  of  serious  annoyances  this  year.  .  .  . 

Is  Dr.  Jackson's  vapour,  which  divides  the  public  ear 
with  gun-cotton,  anything  more  than  rectified  ether  ? 

The  "  vapour  "  referred  to  was  in  fact  "  rectified 
ether,"  and  its  use  marked  the  discovery  of  anes- 
thesia by  this  agent. 

The  following  letters  from  Lieutenant  Maury  are 
of  historical  interest :  — 

OBSEKVATOBY,  WASHINGTON,  November  23,  1846. 

DEAR  PROFESSOR  ROGERS,  —  I  send  a  copy  of  our 
observations  for  1845,  of  which  I  beg  your  accept- 
ance. I  have  also  sent  a  copy  for  the  University, 
with  a  letter  to  the  President,  requesting  the  advice 
and  aid  of  the  Faculty  in  relation  to  our  future  opera- 
tions. It  is  probable  you  will  see  that  letter ;  there- 
fore I  beg  to  put  you  in  possession  of  my  views  and 
wishes  more  fully  than  I  felt  at  liberty  to  express 
them  there. 

In  the  first  place,  you  know  that  the  Observatory- 
is  yet  an  illegitimate  concern,  smuggled  into  existence 


270          THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1846. 

under  the  name  of  a  "  Depot  of  Charts  and  Instru- 
ments," a  circumstance  significant  enough  of  the  hos- 
tility, or  rather  prejudice,  still  existing  in  the  minds 
of  the  lawgivers  to  an  Observatory. 

Now  to  be  useful  the  Observatory  must  feel  that  it 
is  on  its  own  bottom,  firm  and  stable.  This  want  of 
stability  impairs  its  usefulness  and  prevents  it  from 
carrying  out  its  plans  with  efficiency.  .  .  .  Should  the 
work  of  the  Observatory  so  far  meet  your  approbation 
and  give  you  confidence  as  to  its  management,  any 
act  on  your  part  would  help  us  along  which  would 
tend  to  strengthen  our  hands  here  for  usefulness. 

There  was  a  bill  unanimously  supported  by  the 
Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  last  session  for  separat- 
ing the  Observatory  from  the  Bureau  of  Ordnance, 
and  giving  it  a  Bureau  of  its  own.  That  bill  comes 
up  for  final  action  at  the  approaching  session;  its 
passage  would  be  productive  of  much  good. 

FROM  THE   SAME. 

OBSERVATORY,  December  7,  1846. 

.  .  .  There  is  a  bill  before  Congress  to  establish 
a  Bureau  of  Hydrography,  or  Longitude,  which  em- 
braces the  Observatory.  The  passage  of  that  bill 
would  place  the  Observatory  where  it  ought  to  be, 
upon  its  own  bottom,  and  give  it  the  lawful  conse- 
quence in  the  public  eye  which  it  should  have  to  facili- 
tate its  undertakings.  As  for  reasons :  — 

First  of  all,  there  must  be  an  American  Nautical 
Almanac ;  it  is  the  tangible  fruit  of  our  Observatory. 
The  arguments  in  favour  of  it  are,  that  every  maritime 
nation  of  the  least  importance  in  Europe  has  its  own 
Nautical  Ephemeris,  and  that  it  would  cost  little  or 
nothing,  for  the  sales  to  merchantmen  would  pay  for 
the  expense  of  computation  and  publication.  The  ar- 
guments in  favour  of  a  Hydrographical  Office  are  of 
a  like  character.  Experience  has  taught  all  nations 
the  importance  of  an  office  with  authority  to  collect 
hydrographical  information.  For  the  want  of  such 


Mi.  42.]  HYDROGRAPHY.  271 

information,  we  have  witnessed  the  failures  of  several 
enterprises  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  against  the  Mexi- 
cans, for  with  proper  information,  Conner's  attacks 
upon  Alvarado  would  not  have  been  the  mortifying 
failures  they  are. 

As  to  a  chart  of  winds  and  currents,  you  recollect, 
which  the  American  Geologists  so  heartily  seconded 
me  in,  after  much  labour,  and  writing  page  upon  page 
on  the  subject,  I  have  prevailed  on  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment to  order  one  ship  to  collect  such  information. 
With  a  Bureau  of  Hydrography  the  Chief  would  have 
authority  to  give  the  proper  orders  in  the  premises 
and  enforce  them. 

Notwithstanding  this,  I  have,  after  much  entreaty 
and  boring,  been  allowed  the  privilege  of  overhauling 
the  old  log-books  for  information,  which  is  like  hunt- 
ing a  grain  of  wheat  in  a  bushel  of  chaff,  and  of  con- 
structing a  chart  therefrom.  With  such  meagre  ma- 
terials, I  am  constructing  a  chart  of  the  Atlantic,  one 
sheet  of  which  —  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  —  is  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  engraver.  There  is  no  telling  the  value 
even  of  this  much.  What  appeared  to  be  disorder 
and  confusion  among  the  currents  there  are  thus 
made  to  appear  all  harmony  and  arrangement.  The 
currents  in  the  Gulf  turn  out  to  be  rivers  almost  as 
sharp,  constant  and  as  well  denned  as  the  Mississippi 
itself.  In  fact,  by  the  information  which  this  chart 
already  affords,  the  average  passage  from  Havana  to 
Pensacola,  or  Mobile,  will  be  shortened  at  least  one 
half,  for  we  have  revealed  to  us  a  current  of  three  or 
four  miles  an  hour,  of  which  vessels  thus  bound  may 
avail  themselves  for  nearly  the  whole  distance.  This 
current  was  not  known  before.  Like  the  shoals  and 
channels  of  an  unsurveyed  but  oft  frequented  harbour, 
the  true  draft  of  water  that  can  enter  is  not  known 
until  the  surveyor  takes  the  soundings  from  his  note- 
book and  plots  them  down  upon  the  chart.  Then  for 
the  first  time  he  comprehends  the  shape  of  the  shoals 
and  sees  the  winding  of  the  channel.  So  with  these 


272          THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1847. 

currents,  when  we  come  to  put  down  the  tracks  of  two 
or  three  hundred  vessels,  each  showing  currents,  the 
crossing  of  these  tracks  enables  us  to  assign  both 
limits  and  strength  with  much  precision. 

You  can  enlarge  upon  the  ideas  thus  hastily  sketched. 
They  are  the  things  upon  which  the  arguments  for  a 
separate  and  efficient  organization  turn.  A  memorial 
to  Congress  upon  the  subject,  I  suppose,  would  pro- 
mote the  object  in  view.  Anything  you  may  be 
pleased  to  say  as  to  the  volume  of  Observations,  and 
the  importance  of  having  them  regularly  published,  will 
help  me  on  with  an  appropriation  for  the  next  volume. 

Mr.  Rogers,  in  reply  to  Lieutenant  Maury,  sent  a 
recommendation  to  Congress  in  behalf  of  a  Bureau  of 
Hydrography. 

In  December,  1846,  Mr.  Rogers  was  offered  the  pro- 
fessorship of  "  Mineralogy,  Geology  and  Agricultural 
Chemistry  "  in  the  University  of  Alabama.  The  salary 
mentioned  was  $1,700  and  house  rent.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  he  did  not  accept  the  offer. 

It  was  in  1847  that  the  foundation  of  the  Lawrence 
Scientific  School  at  Cambridge  was  laid  by  Abbott 
Lawrence,  Esq.,  afterward  United  States  Minister 
to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  who  gave  for  the  pur- 
pose at  the  outset  the  sum  of  $50,000.*  Professor 
Henry  Rogers,  in  a  letter  dated  June  25,  1847, 
refers  to  the  gift,  and  states  that  Mr.  Lawrence  was 
treating  with  Agassiz  for  the  professorship  of  Geol- 
ogy, and  with  Courtenay  (at  that  time  Professor  of 
Mathematics  in  the  University  of  Virginia)  for  that 
of  Engineering.  He  adds :  "  Courtenay  would  be  well 
qualified,  but  he  would  hardly  take  a  place  worth  at 
present  perhaps  less  than  $1,000,  and  hereafter  only 
$1,500."  We  cite  these  facts  as  a  contribution  to  the 
1  Memoir  of  Abbott  Laurence,  by  H.  A.  Hill,  pp.  108-116. 


En.  42.]  SUNNY  HILL.  273 

educational  history  of  the  time,  for  it  is  worth  noting 
that  a  scientific  school  was  begun  in  1847  at  one 
of  our  most  famous  universities,  with  an  endowment 
of  (originally)  only  $50,000  ;  that  the  chair  of  Engi- 
neering yielded  but  $1,000,  or  less ;  while  the  man 
naturally  sought  for  to  fill  it,  and  regarded  as  "  well 
qualified,"  was  a  university  professor  of  Mathematics, 
who  had  had  no  other  engineering  experience  than 
that  of  a  West  Point  graduate. 

The  Scientific  or  "  Philosophical "  Department  of 
Yale  was  first  organized  and  opened  to  students  in  1847. 

Mr.  Rogers,  on  the  arrival  of  his  summer  holidays, 
journeyed  to  Massachusetts  and  visited  the  family  of 
Mr.  James  Savage  at  their  summer  home  in  Lunen- 
burg.  As  many  of  the  happiest  hours  of  his  life 
were  passed  here,  we  give  a  brief  description  of  the 
place. 

Lunenburg  is  one  of  the  typical  "hill-towns"  of 
Massachusetts.  It  is  but  sparsely  settled  by  a  farm- 
ing community,  though  distant  only  a  few  miles  east 
from  the  bustling  manufacturing  city  of  Fitchburg. 
"  Sunny  Hill,"  the  home  of  Mr.  Savage,  commanded 
fine  views  of  Mount  Wachusett  towards  the  west,  and 
of  many  lesser  hills  on  the  horizon.  In  one  of  the 
valleys  not  far  off  winds  the  Nashua  River,  and  in 
another,  just  below  the  Hill,  lies  "  Whalom  Pond,"  a 
beautiful  lake  bordered  by  sloping  fields  and  woods. 
Here  in  complete  retirement,  yet  only  some  two  hours 
by  rail  from  Boston,  Mr.  Rogers  found  for  many 
years  the  perfect  quiet,  and  companionship  with  nature, 
which  are  the  best  refreshments  of  the  scholar.  In 
this  hospitable  home  the  brothers  James,  Henry  and 
Robert  were  also  welcome  guests. 

In  September,  1847,  the  seventh  annual  meeting  of 


274          THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1847. 

the  Association  of  American  Geologists  and  Natural- 
ists which  had  been  organized,  as  above  stated,  in 
1840,  was  held  in  Boston.  At  this  meeting  it  was 
voted  that  the  Association  "  should  resolve  itself  into 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Sci- 
ence, and  that  the  first  meeting,  under  the  new  organi- 
zation, should  be  held  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  on  the 
third  Wednesday  (20th  day)  of  September,  1848."  * 

Mr.  Rogers  presided  over  the  last  meeting  of  the 
parent  organization  and,  as  chairman,  took  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  establishment  of  the  new  Association.1 
At  the  beginning  of  October  he  was  again  at  his  post 
in  the  University  of  Virginia. 

WILLIAM  TO  HENRY. 
UNIVERSITY  OP  VIRGINIA,  October  3, 1847. 
.  .  .  The  more  I  think  of  our  plan  of  a  Polytechnic 
School,  the  more  confident  I  feel  of  its  rapid  and  great 
success.  The  Lawrence  School  never  can  succeed  on 
its  present  plan  in  accomplishment  of  what  was  in- 
tended. It  can  only,  as  now  organized,  draw  a  small 
number  of  the  body  of  students  aside  from  the  usual 
college  routine.  It  should  be  in  reality  a  school  of 
applied  science,  embracing  at  least  four  professorships, 
and  it  ought  to  be  in  a  great  measure  independent  of 
the  other  departments  of  Harvard.  Besides,  Cam- 
bridge is  not  the  place  for  such  a  school.  It  should 
be  in  Boston.  Thus  organized  and  placed,  it  would 
really  cover  the  ground  of  our  School  of  Arts,  and 
would  undoubtedly  become  very  popular  and  be  highly 
successful. 

In  the  autumn  of  1847  James  B.  Rogers  was  elected 
to  the  Professorship  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  to  succeed  Dr.  Robert  Hare,  resigned. 

1  Proceedings  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science  (1849),  vol.  i.  p.  5. 


&T.  43.]  ENGINEERING.  275 

All  the  brothers  turned  to  William  whenever  they 
needed  counsel,  and  especially  for  assistance  and  criti- 
cism in  their  literary  or  oratorical  efforts.  James 
now  invoked  William's  aid  in  criticising  his  intro- 
ductory address  to  be  delivered  on  assuming  the  new 
office,  and  William,  as  usual,  lent  his  aid :  — 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS   BROTHER   JAMES. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  October  11,  1847. 
.  .  .  The  task  is  finished,  and  I  send  you  the  re- 
mainder of  the  lecture,  six  pages,  which,  added  to 
the  twenty-eight  despatched  yesterday  evening,  will, 
I  think,  be  quite  as  much  as  you  can  read.  .  .  .  The 
subject  of  life  is  a  ticklish  one,  you  know,  with  theo- 
logians ;  but  the  view  I  take  leaves  full  scope  for  the 
spiritual,  while  it  is,  I  think,  the  truly  logical  one.  .  .  . 
This  literary  task  just  completed  has  cost  me  a  good 
deal  of  toil,  more,  perhaps,  than  if  from  the  very  be- 
ginning I  had  struck  out  in  a  path  of  my  own.  But 
I  enjoy,  I  cannot  tell  you  how  much,  pleasure  in  feeling 
that  it  will  relieve  you  of  so  much  trouble  and  anxiety, 
and  help  you  to  launch  your  bark  successfully  on  the 
wider  sea  you  are  about  to  navigate.  ...  In  haste  and 
tired, 

Your  ever  affectionate  brother, 

WILLIAM  B.  KOGERS. 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  October  13, 1847. 
.  .  .  Do  you  hear  anything  further  of  this  Chair 
of  engineering?  ...  If  the  course  were  devoted  to 
applied  mechanics,  of  which  engineering  would  form 
a  part,  it  would  be  more  promising.  In  truth  this 
department  ought  to  embrace  experimental  physics  in 
all  its  practical  bearings,  including  the  principles  of 
Mechanics,  Hydrodynamics,  Pneumatics,  Thermotics, 
etc.,  as  the  basis  ;  and  then  the  discussion  of  materials, 
and  the  principles  of  construction,  and  the  motive 


276          THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1847. 

powers,  with  the  machinery  through  which  they  are 
applied.  How  I  long,  my  dear  Henry,  to  be  with  you. 
We  have  not  for  many  a  year  spent  a  ivorking  season 
together.  I  am  sure  we  could  accomplish  a  great  deal 
by  such  a  combination.  To  this  my  heart  now  looks 
with  a  pleasure  I  cannot  express.  .  .  . 

William,  Kobert  and  James  were  now  comfortably 
established  in  professorships,  and  Henry  was  doing 
well  as  a  lecturer  and  geological  expert  in  Boston. 
Nevertheless,  mainly  on  account  of  a  feeling  of  isola- 
tion, William  began  to  think  seriously  of  resigning 
his  position  in  Virginia  and  going  to  join  his  brother 
Henry  in  Boston. 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIBGHOA,  October  20,  1847. 

.  .  .  James  delivered  his  lecture  no  doubt  yester- 
day. He  wrote  in  good  spirits;  the  laboratory  was 
looking  vastly  improved  by  its  new  arrangement,  and 
students  were  pouring  in  rapidly  upon  him.  Notwith- 
standing the  increased  length  of  the  session,  the  Uni- 
versity was  looking  for  a  large  class.  Household 
arrangements  were  progressing  in  the  new  residence, 
and,  in  a  word,  all  things  looked  bright,  as  they  cer- 
tainly ought  to  do.  What  a  cause  for  continual  re- 
joicing is  this  glorious  success  which  James  has  had ! 
That  his  course  will  be  eminently  satisfactory  I  am 
perfectly  sure.  The  Introductory  I  regard  as  his  only 
trouble,  and  hereafter  I  would  advise  him  to  make  it 
an  extempore  one.  I  have  great  hopes  that  the  happy 
circumstances  in  which  he  is  now  placed,  and  espe- 
cially the  large  leisure  and  means  they  will  give  for 
renewing  his  health  by  wholesome  travel  and  occu- 
pation, will  be  of  great  service  to  him  in  a  variety  of 
ways.  .  .  . 

Your  letter,  written  immediately  on  your  return, 
gave  us  great  pleasure.  I  have  since  thought  of  you 


^T.  43.]  IN  THE  LABORATORY.  277 

daily  as  one  of  the  circle  of  dear  friends  at  Sunny 
Hill,  and  have  gone  with  you  to  the  many  beautiful 
points  around,  now  so  dearly  familiar  to  my  thoughts. 

From  some  observations  I  made  last  year,  I  am 
doubtful  of  Dalton's  Law,  that  the  amount  of  gas  ab- 
sorbed by  water  is  in  the  exact  proportion  of  the 
pressure.  We  are  constructing  a  new,  and  I  think 
beautiful,  arrangement  for  testing  it,  and  whatever  the 
results  may  be  they  will  be  worth  publishing. 

Things  are  very  quiet  here.  The  class  numbers 
196,  and  my  colleagues  are  all  in  the  greatest  glee. 

Would  it  not  be  well,  as  occasion  offers,  to  sound 
some  of  the  leading  practical  men  in  Boston  on  the 
subject  of  our  scheme  ?  .  .  .  I  confidently  think  that 
after  taking  time  to  digest  courses  of  lectures  on 
practical  subjects,  we  might  even  a  year  hence  com- 
mand immense  classes  from  the  ranks  of  the  mechan- 
ics, manufacturers  and  part  of  the  merchants  of  the 
city.  .  .  . 

My  heart  is  full  of  confidence,  and  I  look  forward 
with  unmixed  happiness  to  the  time  now  approaching 
when  I  shall  be  able  to  join  you  in  preparing  for  our 
common  effort  and  our  common  engagement  in  the 
ample  and  grand  theatre  which  Boston  offers.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  November  3, 1847. 
.  .  .  But  by  and  by,  my  dear  Henry,  we  shall  I 
trust  be  able,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  to  win  a  position 
in  which  we  may  enjoy  ourselves  in  science  and  so- 
cially, free  from  all  anxiety  and  in  a  spirit  of  entire 
independence.  We  must  be  satisfied,  for  a  time  at 
least,  with  moderate  success,  and  in  wise  culture  and 
relaxation  must  seek  that  happiness  which  without 
them,  wealth  and  a  brilliant  career  cannot  give.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  December  27, 1847. 
.  .  .  Robert  and  I  pass  much  of  our  leisure  time 
in  the  laboratory,  where  we  are  busy  completing  our 
observations  on  the  solubility  of  minerals.     An  inci- 


278          THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.         [1847. 

dental  result  of  much  interest  has  disclosed  itself  since 
our  determination  of  the  great  volatility  of  potash 
and  its  carbonate.  We  now  see  the  reason  for  the 
absence  of  alkali  from  the  ash  of  coals  and  lignite. 
It  is  dissipated  by  the  intense  heat  necessary  for  their 
incineration;  and  for  the  same  reason,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  usual  mode  of  finding  the  alkali  in  plants,  by 
first  reducing  to  ash,  must  involve  serious  loss.  Pow- 
dered anthracite,  etc.,  yield  alkali  readily  by  our  ex- 
temporaneous process  with  CO2  water  !  In  this  way, 
too,  we  can  procure  it  from  powdered  woods  of  all 
kinds.  .  .  . 

So  volatile  is  potash  that  the  tache  from  a  drop  on 
platinum  is  dissipated  in  two  seconds  by  the  heat  of  the 
mouth-blowpipe.  Lime  is  scarcely  altered,  magnesia 
is  enfeebled,  soda  disappears  in  thirty  seconds,  and 
lithia  in  half  that  time.  You  thus  see  how  different  will 
be  the  behaviour  of  the  tache  from  a  feldspar,  a  horn- 
blende, a  serpentine,  etc.  Our  experiments  are  so 
delicate  now,  that  the  solution  of  the  glass  of  the  bot- 
tles forms  a  source  of  embarrassment,  and  we  are 
going  to  use  more  powder,  shorter  time  and  frequent 
agitation.  You  spoke  in  your  last  of  sending  an  ab- 
stract to  "  Silliman  :  "  I  hope  you  have  had  time.  At 
any  rate,  you  must  prepare  an  account  of  your  geo- 
logical matters  for  the  next  number.  .  .  . 

I  form  many  a  delightful  picture  of  our  future 
union  in  scientific  labour.  One  of  the  first  cares  will 
be  to  fit  up  a  neat  working  laboratory  with  all  the 
more  delicate  equipments.  There  we  can  pursue 
analysis,  and  perhaps,  if  we  chose,  we  might  have  a 
few  pupils  and  then  we  might  push  on  most  happily 
our  various  matters  of  research.  There  are  innumer- 
able directions  in  which  discoveries  are  readily  within 
reach.  In  these  late  experiments  scarcely  a  day 
passes  without  disclosing  some  new  collateral  inquiry, 
which,  if  followed,  would  itself  prove  the  parent  stem 
of  others.  The  wide  field  of  general  chemistry  is  all 
to  be  re-explored,  and  is,  I  think,  a  far  more  inviting 


2Br.  43.]     LA  WHENCE  SCIENTIFIC  SCHOOL.      279 

and  elevated  ground  than  the  organic  chemistry  which 
is  now  so  passionately  occupying  the  majority  of  in- 
quirers. The  latter  is  becoming  a  complex  mixture 
of  facts  and  mere  interpretations,  while  the  greater 
number  of  chemists  seem,  in  utter  neglect  of  a  sound 
philosophical  logic,  to  be  setting  forth  mere  formulae 
as  the  true  pictures  of  natural  relations.  Berzelius  is, 
after  all,  among  the  wisest  of  them ;  and  Liebig,  with 
all  his  genius,  is,  I  fear,  giving  support  to  much  error 
as  well  as  much  novel  truth.  .  .  . 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

BOSTON,  February  19,  1848. 

.  .  .  The  business  of  framing  a  new  constitution 
for  the  Association  of  American  Geologists  need  not 
engross  much  of  my  time.  .  .  . 

I  send  you  the  advertisement  of  the  Lawrence 
Scientific  School.  I  shall  watch  their  progress  with 
interest. 

The  announcement  of  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School  referred  to  is  dated  "Cambridge,  February 
IT,  1848,"  and  is  issued  by  Eben  N.  Horsford,  as 
Dean  of  the  Faculty.  The  following  paragraphs  may 
be  quoted :  — 

"  Candidates  for  admission  must  have  attained  the 
age  of  eighteen  years ;  must  have  received  a  good 
common  English  education,  and  must  be  qualified  to 
pursue  to  advantage  the  courses  of  study  to  which 
they  propose  to  give  their  attention.  .  .  . 

"  The  number  and  choice  of  studies  to  be  pursued 
are  optional  on  the  part  of  the  students,  who  will, 
however,  be  counselled  on  these  points  by  the  Faculty. 
Attendance  on  the  lectures  and  recitations  is  volun- 
tary. For  this,  as  well  as  other  reasons,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  University  wish  wholly  to  discourage  the 
resort  of  young  men  to  the  Scientific  School  who  do 


280          THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.         [1848. 

not,  in  the  opinion  of  their  parents  and  guardians, 
possess  that  stability  of  character  and  firmness  of  pur- 
pose which  will  ensure  a  faithful  performance  of  duty 
without  academic  discipline." 


WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  or  VIRGINIA,  February  27, 1848. 

.  .  .  From  the  advertisement  of  the  Lawrence 
School,  I  judge  the  authorities  are  very  anxious  to 
invite  students  to  the  department.  ...  If  they  would 
put  it  on  a  right  footing,  making  the  courses  numer- 
ous, full  and  practical,  and  under  charge  of  professors 
having  no  other  duties  in  the  college,  it  would  by 
and  by  command  large  numbers.  .  .  . 

In  a  couple  of  weeks  I  shall  send  in  my  resignation 
to  the  Rector.  It  will  create  quite  a  stir  and  occasion 
no  little  regret.  Harrison  and  his  wife  are  quite 
downcast  about  it.  ... 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  9,  1848. 
.  .  .  This  week  I  shall  draw  up  my  letter  of  res- 
ignation, so  as  to  send  it  to  Mr.  Cabell,  the  Eector, 
some  two  weeks  before  the  required  time.  This  I  do 
in  courtesy  to  the  Board,  that  they  may  have  the 
longer  interval  for  choosing  a  successor.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Rogers  duly  sent  in  a  formal  letter  of  resigna- 
tion, and  received  from  the  Hon  J.  C.  Cabell,  Rector 
of  the  Board  of  Visitors  of  the  University  of  Virginia, 
a  courteous  reply. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  14, 1848. 

JOSEPH  C.  CABELL,  ESQ.,  Rector  of  the  Board  of 

Visitors  of  the  University  of  Virginia  : 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  write  to  notify  you  officially  of  my 

intention  to  resign  my  place  in  the  University  at  the 

close  of  the  present  session.     From  the  nature  of  my 

future  plans,  I  have  been  for  some  time  anticipating 


^T.43.]     RESIGNATION  OF  PROFESSORSHIP.    281 

an  early  removal  to  Boston,  but  until  recently  I  had 
not  entirely  relinquished  the  prospect  of  a  somewhat 
longer  continuation  at  the  University,  and  I  have, 
therefore,  abstained  from  making  an  earlier  communi- 
cation on  the  subject. 

I  need  not  say  how  much  it  will  pain  me  to  quit 
the  literary  home  where,  with  some  cares,  I  have 
had  so  large  a  share  of  enjoyment  and  such  valued 
scientific  opportunities.  Nor  need  I  speak  of  my 
regrets  at  leaving  the  circle  of  friends  throughout 
Virginia  whose  intelligent  regard  I  have  felt  to  be 
one  of  the  most  grateful  of  the  rewards  by  which  my 
humble  but  earnest  labours  have  been  repaid.  For 
the  last  twenty  years  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  aid 
in  the  scientific  training  of  the  young  men  of  the 
State,  and  it  would,  indeed,  be  strange  could  I  con- 
template, without  strong  emotion,  a  change  which, 
however  desirable  in  itself,  breaks  up  the  kind  asso- 
ciations which  have  yearly  added  to  my  interest  in 
the  intellectual  progress  to  which  they  are  contribut- 
ing so  large  a  share. 

During  the  twelve  years  of  my  connection  with 
the  University,  I  have  learned  to  value  more  and 
more  the  scheme  of  the  organization,  the  method 
and  thoroughness  that  preside  generally  in  its  halls 
of  instruction,  and  the  enlightened  devotion  to  its 
interests  of  the  distinguished  citizens  who  form  its 
Visitorial  Board. 

As  I  have  hitherto  deemed  it  an  honour  to  be  num- 
bered among  its  professors,  so  shall  I  continue  to  be 
proud  of  what  it  has  done  and  is  doing  for  the  cause 
of  sound  instruction  in  letters  and  science ;  nor  shall 
any  interests  hereafter  make  me  indifferent  to  its 
prosperity,  or  estrange  me  from  that  kind  regard  for 
its  faculty  and  governors,  which  I  shall  carry  with  me 
into  my  new  home. 

With  great  consideration  and  respect, 
Your  obedient  servant, 

WILLIAM  B.  KOGEBS. 


282          THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1848. 


FKOM   HON.   J.    C.   CABELL. 

WARMINSTER,  April  2,  1848. 

MY  DEAR  SIE, — Your  favour  of  the  15th  inst., 
announcing  your  intention  to  resign  your  place  in  the 
University  at  the  close  of  the  present  session,  reached 
me  on  the  24th.  I  confess  that  this  annunciation 
took  me  altogether  by  surprise  and  gave  me  great 
concern.  I  had  regarded  you  as  permanently  settled 
at  our  Institution,  and  was  not  apprised  that  you  had 
an  idea  of  removal.  I  am  very  sure  that  the  regret 
which  you  express  at  the  contemplation  of  the  ap- 
proaching separation  is  not  greater  than  that  felt  by 
myself  and  the  rest  of  the  Visitors  and  the  people  of 
the  State,  in  consequence  of  the  loss  which  the  Uni- 
versity will  sustain  by  your  retirement.  In  view  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  duties  of  the  Chair  have 
been  fulfilled,  it  will  be  no  easy  task  to  find  a  worthy 
and  satisfactory  successor.  I  cordially  wish  you  suc- 
cess in  your  labours  upon  the  new  theatre  of  exertion 
upon  which  you  will  soon  appear,  and  likewise  happi- 
ness and  prosperity  in  all  your  undertakings. 
I  am,  dear  sir,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOSEPH  C.  CABELL. 

PROF.  WILLIAM  B.  ROGEKS. 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  21, 1848. 
...  I  have  sent  my  letter  of  resignation  to  Mr. 
Cabell.  By  this  time  I  suppose  he  is  aware  of  my 
purpose.  I  have  also  made  known  the  change  to  all 
my  friends.  Harrison  and  family  have  been  in- 
formed of  it  for  a  month  past.  I  did  not  suppose  it 
would  produce  such  a  shock  as  it  appears  to  have 
occasioned  to  all  to  whom  I  mentioned  it.  They  seem 
really  distressed  and  confounded.  They  have  valued 
me  even  more  than  I  imagined. 


.Ex.  43.]    RESIGNATION  OF  PROFESSORSHIP.    283 

FROM  HIS  BROTHER  HENRY. 

BOSTON,  March  26,  1848. 

...  I  am  also  to  examine  the  two  tunnels  of  the 
aqueduct1  for  the  Water  Commissioners,  a  work  of 
two  or  three  days,  for  a  fee  of  $100  ;  at  least,  so  says 
Robert's  old  friend  Chesbrough,  their  engineer.  Thus, 
you  perceive,  I  have  at  all  times  a  little  professional 
work  in  prospect.  When  you  come  here  to  live  we 
must  have  an  office  and  laboratory,  and  what  with 
such  work  and  with  lecturing  we  can  make  a  very  fair 
income  and  be  our  own  masters.  . 


WILLIAM   TO    HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  29,  1848. 
.  .  .  Every  day  brings  me  some  new  evidence  of 
the  regret  occasioned  by  my  resignation.  The  stu- 
dents generally  evince  much  concern  about  it,  espe- 
cially my  own  class,  and  the  very  considerable  num- 
ber who  expected  to  be  with  me  the  next  year.  I 
understand  they  say  my  place  cannot  be  filled.  Of 
course  I  am  pleased  with  these  marks  of  appreciation, 
but  not  the  less  happy  in  the  prospect  of  my  change. 
I  do  not  doubt  we  shall  do  well  in  Boston.  But  to  be 
happy  we  must  not  be  over-wrought  or  over-excited. 
Moderate  efforts  with  steady  but  moderate  aims,  and 
a  proper  appreciation  of  home  enjoyments  apart  from 
ambition,  will  best  conduce  to  our  happiness.  .  .  . 
What  stirring  news  from  France !  Heaven  prosper 
the  movement  to  the  best  results.  .  .  . 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  31, 1848. 
I  hope  to  be  able  this  afternoon  to  send  you  a  short 
account  of  our  experiments  on  the  diamond,  which 
were  completed  with  an  entirely  satisfactory  result 

1  The  Cochituate  Aqueduct. 


284  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.       [1848. 

this  morning.1  But  time  has  not  allowed,  and  as 
to-morrow  will  be  my  day  of  double  work,  I  shall 
probably  be  unable  to  draw  up  the  statement  in  ques- 
tion until  Sunday.  I  will  at  that  time  give  you  a 
brief  sketch  of  our  process  for  the  analysis  of  graphite, 
with  a  diagram  and  some  of  the  results.  The  pro- 
cedure for  the  liquid  oxidation  of  the  diamond  is  the 
same,  but  the  resulting  CO2,  instead  of  being  arrested 
by  PO3  in  a  Liebig  tube,  is  passed  into  lime  water. 
We  are  quite  pleased  to  find  the  result  unequivocal 
and  striking,  and  think  it  will  be  regarded  by  chem- 
ists as  interesting  and  curious.  It  is  certainly  entirely 
new.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  9,  1848. 

...  I  shall  lecture  for  Robert  to  the  chemical  class 
this  week  (Robert  being  ill).  The  subject  is  easy, — 
the  metals,  —  and  I  shall  have  but  two  lectures  to 
give.  I  find  lecturing  on  chemistry  a  very  easy  busi- 
ness, especially  as  I  have  Robert's  admirably  digested 
notes  to  aid  me.  The  present  little  practice  will  be 
of  service  to  me.  My  own  course  just  now  is  partic- 
ularly simple,  so  that  you  must  not  fear  lest  I  should 
be  overworked.  .  .  . 

On  Saturday,  James  closed  his  duties  by  the  Ad- 
dress. In  Homer's  absence  on  a  proposed  visit  with 
Wood  to  Europe,  James  is  to  act  as  Dean.  This  will 
involve  but  little  trouble  through  the  summer,  but  will 
give  him  a  good  deal  to  do  at  the  opening  of  the  next 
session.  It  is  gratifying  to  see  how  highly  he  is  ap- 
preciated in  the  institution.  .  .  . 

Professor  Henry  Rogers  had,  during  the  winter, 
made  an  attempt  to  secure  from  the  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvania  an  appropriation  which  should  enable 
him  to  publish  his  final  Report.  In  this  attempt  he 
was  bitterly  disappointed. 

1  "  Oxidation  of  the  Diamond  in  the  Liquid  Way,"  Sittiman,  vol. 
vi.  p.  110. 


.  43.]  ENCOURAGEMENT.  285 


WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNTVEBSITY  OP  VIRGINIA,  April  15, 1848. 
.  .  .  Ere  this,  my  dear  Henry,  you  have  no  doubt 
heard  from  Harrisburg  of  the  fate  of  the  Report. 
Robert  and  I  have  been  grieving  this  morning  at  the 
thought  that  this  disappointment  will  prove  much 
more  painful  to  you  than  we  had  at  first  supposed. 
The  despondent  tone  in  which  you  close  the  letter 
received  this  morning  has  given  us  pain.  But  is 
it  not  almost  certain  that  in  another  year  a  wiser 
legislation  will  prevail?  And  even  should  it  not, 
in  a  scientific  point  of  view  you  can  reap  higher 
advantages  by  devoting  your  time,  by  moderate  and 
steady  efforts,  to  the  production  of  a  systematic  work 
on  American  Geology.  With  easy  labours  of  author- 
ship and  occasional  lectures  in  the  Lowell  Institute 
or  elsewhere,  and  your  geological  examinations,  you 
will  be  abundantly  employed  for  the  present,  and  who 
can  doubt,  my  dear  Henry,  that  before  long  some 
more  permanent  scientific  plan  will  offer  itself,  in 
which  you  or  both  of  us  can  happily  engage.  It  is  true 
your  faithful  labours  and  your  unbending  uprightness 
have  in  many  instances  been  cruelly  repaid,  but  then 
how  much  have  you  won  of  the  love  and  respect  of 
friends  who  appreciate  you  fully,  and  how  strong  have 
you  grown  in  the  opinions  of  men  of  science  and  the 
widening  circle  of  your  acquaintance.  See,  my  dear 
Henry,  how  much  cause  there  is  for  cheerful  views  of 
the  present  and  for  bright  confidence  in  the  future. 
Since  this  time  last  spring  how  great  has  been  our 
common  gain  in  the  almost  unhoped-for  advancement 
of  James  to  his  present  enviable  place.  To  "  labour 
and  to  wait,"  the  former  wisely  and  moderately,  so  as 
to  make  our  tasks  a  pleasure,  the  latter  patiently  and 
in  cheerful  hope ;  these  should  form  our  plan.  How 
much  of  true  enjoyment  lies  before  us,  especially  when 
we  can  all  more  frequently  unite  in  science  and  recre- 
ation. The  call  for  accomplished  teachers  of  science 


286          THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1848. 

is  daily  and  rapidly  augmenting.  In  the  large  cities, 
and  Boston  especially,  we  can  surely  have  abundant 
employment  in  this  way.  Did  I  not  think  so  I  should 
be  really  pained  to  give  up  my  present  position. 


MR.  ROGERS  TO  MISS  LUCY  SAVAGE.1 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  May  8,  1848. 
.  .  .  Nothing  could  exceed  the  beauty  of  the  gar- 
dens, fields  and  woods  around  us  here.  The  mock- 
orange  (JPhiladelphus  coronatus)  is  loaded  with  fra- 
grant blossoms,  the  honeysuckles  of  various  kinds  are 
filling  the  air  with  sweet  odours,  the  locust-trees  are 
hung  with  clustering  flowers  of  the  richest  fragrance, 
and  a  multitude  of  other  plants  are  blooming,  or  pre- 
paring to  hang  out  their  honours  in  the  sun.  Among 
these  the  roses  are  especially  full  of  promise.  All  day 
the  sound  of  bees  and  birds  swells  delightfully  on  the 
ear.  How  often,  dear  Lucy,  have  I  wished  that  you 
could  be  here  to  breathe  the  warm,  fragrant  air,  and 
feast  your  eyes  and  heart  upon  the  beauty  and  music  of 
the  smiling,  happy  scene.  But  you  will  soon  all  take 
flight  to  sweet  Sunny  Hill,  where  like  pleasures  await 
you,  and  where  Whalom  and  Wachusett  will  smile  a 
sweet  welcome  on  your  arrival,  and  where  the  harsh 
eastern  winds  will  not  dare  to  follow  you.  Thither, 
by  and  by,  I  too  will  hasten.  Will  you  not  listen 
for  the  sound  of  the  coach  wheels  in  the  evening,  as 
they  toil  up  the  gravelly  slope  of  Clarke's  Hill  ? 


TO   HIS    BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  May  10,  1848. 
Your  view  of  our  future  in  Boston  must,  I  am  sure, 
be  correct.     We  can  find  much  to  do  undoubtedly  in 
the  line  you  mention,  and  I  confidently  believe  we  can 
soon  get  up  a  Franklin  Institute,  or  School  of  Arts, 
which  will  be  a  source  of  great  pleasure  as  well  as 
1  Youngest  daughter  of  Mr.  James  Savage. 


Mr.  43.]  FRENCH  POLITICS.  287 

profit.  Could  we  not  count  certainly  on  large  classes 
from  among  the  mechanics  and  merchants  to  patron- 
ize lectures  such  as  we  could  give  on  applied  science, 
and  science  in  itself  in  its  more  elevated  bearings  ?  I 
am  sure  of  it.  ... 


TO    HIS    BROTHER   JAMES. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIBGINIA,  May  12,  1848. 
.  .  .  We  were  delighted  with  your  account  of  the 
boys  and  Mary.  William 1  will  become  quite  a  politi- 
cian, and  no  doubt  a  good  Whig,  during  the  Conven- 
tion. The  skill  he  is  acquiring  in  stenography  may 
be  of  much  use  to  him  and  to  you  also.  I  have  often 
wished  that  some  one  could  have  taken  down  my  lec- 
tures on  certain  parts  of  my  course ;  for  I  find  that 
in  the  free  play  of  thought  during  the  lecture  I  strike 
out  occasional  new  views  or  illustrations  which  I  am 
unable  afterwards  to  recover,  and  which  might  be  of 
use  at  a  subsequent  time. 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

BOSTON,  May  16,  1848. 

.  .  .  Letters  have  just  come  from  Hillard  from 
Paris,  where  he  arrived  on  the  23d  day  of  the  Elec- 
tions. ...  Of  the  ability  of  the  French  for  repub- 
licanism I  have  not  for  a  long  while  felt  any  serious 
doubt.  Their  political  economy  is  not  greatly  to  be 
praised,  but  is  our  own  ?  In  truth,  the  great  science 
of  the  adjustment  of  human  labour  is  but  in  its  in- 
fancy, and  no  country  has  hitherto  legislated  at  all 
upon  commerce  or  labour  with  any  light  from  the  pro- 
found laws  which  experience  is  slowly  evolving.  Cer- 
tainly neither  England  nor  New  England  need  boast 
of  any  wisdom  in  this  branch  of  legislation,  com- 
prising indeed  for  the  future,  directly  or  indirectly, 

1  William  Barton  Rogers,  2d,eldest  son  of  James  B.  Rogers,  later 
an  assistant  to  his  uncle  Henry  in  the  Geological  Survey  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 


288  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1848. 

nearly  all  legislation.  ...  I  am  at  work  on  the 
new  Rules  for  the  Association,1  a  labour  of  some  respon- 
sibility and  trouble,  as  I  am  writing  a  few  explanatory 
pages  to  go  into  the  Circular.  I  think  you  will  en- 
tirely approve  of  my  Constitution,  it  is  democratic, 
federal,  flexible  and  expansive,  progressive,  with  all 
the  true  conservatism  these  features  imply.  .  .  . 

WILLIAM    TO   HETNRY. 

UNIVEBSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  May  27,  1848. 
...  I  see  that  in  my  new  field  I  shall  have  more 
to  do  to  make  my  reputation  than  I  had  anticipated. 
My  position  in  the  South  for  the  past  fifteen  years  has 
in  some  degree  spoiled  me.  For  a  good  part  of  that 
time  my  scientific  rank  has  been  fixed,  and,  as  you 
know,  I  have  been  looked  up  to  in  Virginia  and 
around  as  the  authority  in  matters  of  science.  My 
pride  is  not  obstinate,  or  I  should  be  concerned  at  the 
thought  of  having  to  take  a  lower  place  and  again 
to  work  my  way  up  the  hill.  But  I  do  not  doubt 
that  I  shall  seek  happiness  in  other  objects  than 
mere  scientific  rank  or  office,  and  ask  only  for  inde- 
pendence and  opportunities  of  being  useful  in  teach- 
ing and  research.  .  .  . 

HENKY   TO    WILLIAM. 

BOSTON,  May  30,  1848. 

.  .  .  Remember  that  at  the  American  Association 
you  will  represent  both  yourself  and  me.  I  send  you 
in  two  or  three  days  the  Circular  for  your  suggestions 
and  valued  criticism  before  permitting  the  printer  to 
strike  off  an  edition.  .  .  . 

In   spite  of  his  determination  to  leave  the   Uni- 
versity, Professor   Rogers  ultimately  yielded    to  the 
solicitation  of  his  friends  in  Virginia  and  the  advice 
of  those  in  Boston,  and  withdrew  his  resignation. 
1  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 


Mi.  43.]  SCOTLAND.  289 


WILLIAM    TO    HENRY    IN  EUROPE. 

SUNNY  HILL,  Augnst  14, 1848. 

.  .  .  What  you  say  of  Edinburgh  and  its  environs 
in  your  letter  to  Mrs.  B.  touched  my  heart  with  a 
deep  sympathy  which  you  can  easily  understand. 
Even  in  this  country  in  my  journeyings  I  have  once 
or  twice  caught  those  tones  and  looks  of  which  you 
speak,  which  carried  my  heart  back  to  the  home  of 
our  childhood,  and  filled  my  soul  with  holy  images  of 
the  loved  ones  that  hung  over  us  with  such  devoted 
affection.  I  verily  believe,  my  dear  Henry,  that  in 
spirit  we  truly  sympathize  with  the  Scotch  character. 
Our  philosophy  will  always  take  its  mould  from  the 
closely  analytic  and  inductive  forms  of  the  great 
teachers  of  Scotland.  I  can  feel  and  think  with  a 
Brewster  much  more  entirely  than  with  a  Whewell, 
or  even  with*  a  Herschel.  I  trust,  my  dear  Henry, 
you  will  see  more  of  Scotland  than  in  this  first  brief 
visit.  There  I  am  sure  you  could  soon  make  good, 
enduring  friends  among  the  men  of  science.  You 
will,  of  course,  try  to  see  Brewster  and  Forbes  and 
Jamieson,  etc.  .  .  . 

On  August  4,  1848,  Mr.  Rogers  was  informed  that 
the  degree  of  LL.  D.  had  been  conferred  upon  him  by 
Hampden-Sidney  College  in  Virginia. 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

MEETHYR  TYDVIL,  SOUTH  WALES,  August  17,  1848. 
...  In  Scotland  I  saw  many  of  the  northern 
geologists  and  some  interesting  portions  of  northern 
geology.  Jamieson,  Hugh  Miller,  David  Milne,  Mac- 
laren,  etc.,  among  the  men,  and  Arran,  Glencoe,  Glen 
Roy,  the  Highlands  and  Edinburgh  among  the  scenes. 
I  was  both  surprised  and  gratified  to  find  our  names 
familiar  to  the  Scotch  geologists,  and  really  touched 
when  I  heard  honest  praise  from  Jamieson  and  others 


290  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1848. 

of  your  own  and  Robert's  chemical  researches.  I 
passed  nearly  a  week  in  Edinburgh  and  its  vicinity, 
and  visited  Melrose,  Stirling  and  other  scenes  of 
great  beauty.  At  Glasgow  I  was  hospitably  received 
by  Nichol,  and  went  thence  to  Arran,  and  afterwards 
to  the  Highlands.  Among  my  pleasures  in  the  beau- 
tiful and  grand  mountains  of  Scotland,  not  the  least 
was  my  visit  to  the  Parallel  Roads  of  Glen  Roy,  and 
my  success  in  solving  the  problem  of  their  origin.  I 
shall  give  my  views  to  the  Geological  Society,  and 
in  my  next,  if  time  permits,  shall  sketch  to  you  my 
theory.  From  Scotland,  where  I  felt  like  a  native, 
who,  after  a  life's  absence,  had  wandered  home  to  his 
birthplace,  I  went  to  London  to  join  Lyman,1  and 
came  to  Swansea. 

The  meeting  of  the  Association  has  been  one  of  fair 
average  merit,  not  a  brilliant  one  by  any  means.  The 
geological  section  was  somewhat  spoiled  by  Sir  Henry 
De  la  Beche's  presiding ;  he  is  excessively  prosy  and 
wasted  time  fearfully. 

Phillips  has  been  a  zealous  and  most  useful  friend, 
and  I  shall  have  a  glorious  time  this  autumn  in  the 
field  with  him  in  Derbyshire,  with  Ramsay  in  North 
Wales,  and  Oldham  in  Ireland.  De  la  Beche  will 
give  me  every  facility.  Brewster  is  very  cordial  and 
kind,  and  so  is  Homer,  Lyell's  father-in-law.  Lyell 
was  not  at  the  meeting,  being  prevented  by  the  ill- 
ness of  his  own  father.  Murchison  is  in  Italy,  and 
Sedgwick  could  not  come.  Sedgwick  spoke  lately  to 
Hillard  of  us  both  in  terms  of  the  warmest  praise, 
and  I  shall  make  him  a  special  visit  at  Cambridge. 
Daubeny  was  at  Swansea,  and  invites  me  to  Oxford  ; 
he  remembers  you  with  much  kindness.  Sir  Philip 
Egerton  invites  me  to  Cheshire,  and  in  fact,  I  have 
more  invitations  than  I  can  possibly  accept.  There 
are  about  twelve  of  us  here,  at  Dowlass  Works,  in  the 
luxurious  mansion  of  Sir  John  Guest,  and  for  two  or 
three  days  we  shall  have  rare  sport.  Lady  Charlotte 
Guest  is  a  woman  of  rare  endowments  and  high  intel- 
1  Mr.  Joseph  Lyman,  of  Northampton,  Massachusetts. 


^T.  43.]          GEOLOGY  OF  THE   VOSGES.  291 

lectual  powers.  We  are  already  organized  into  sec- 
tions, and  to-morrow  I  entertain  the  company  on  the 
subject  of  earthquakes,  with  blackboard  and  chalk  for 
my  means  of  illustration.  Wheatstone  will  give  us 
some  of  his  ingenious  things,  and  Brewster  is  inex- 
haustible. Layard  is  here  with  his  portfolio  full  of 
wonderful  transcripts  from  the  walls  of  Nineveh! 
friezes  and  inscriptions  almost  rivalling  those  of  the 
age  of  Pericles,  made  by  the  Syrians  eighteen  hundred 
years  before  Christ. 

I  am  losing  the  opportunity  of  a  tour  through  the 
works,  and  you  must  therefore  excuse  my  incoherent 
haste.  .  .  . 

When  at  Swansea  I  communed  much  with  Owen, 
the  naturalist.  He  is  one  of  England's  strongest  men, 
gifted  with  an  amazing  perception  of  the  profounder 
analysis  of  things.  He  was  very  cordial  towards  me, 
and  I  hope  to  profit  by  the  intercourse  on  my  return 
to  London.  I  wish  him  to  examine  my  specimens  of 
Mosasaurus  bones.  .  .  . 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  October  13, 1848. 
.  .  .  Your  last  letter  has  given  me  and  Robert  more 
happiness  than  I  can  express.  We  have  repeatedly 
followed  your  steps  on  our  good  maps,  and  I  have 
tried  to  make  myself,  by  reading  and  charts,  more 
familiar  with  the  Jura  and  Alps.  What  a  glorious 
support  for  our  generalization  you  have  acquired  in 
these  journeys.  I  think  you  must  be  correct  in  refer- 
ring to  the  Vosges  as  the  great  line  of  disturbance 
which  has  determined  the  form  of  the  flexures.  The 
rocks  of  that  belt  are,  I  believe,  the  old  metamorphic, 
like  our  Blue  Ridge  and  the  region  on  its  south- 
eastern side.  The  existence  of  a  great  line  of  fault 
along  Lake  Neuchatel  would  be  interesting  as  form- 
ing a  natural  terminus  to  the  series  of  related  flexures. 
Just  as  is  the  case  of  the  great  lines  of  fault  in  south- 
west Virginia,  etc.,  where  the  series  of  folds  and 


292  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1848. 

flexures  cease  with  the  fault.  But  in  the  case  you 
have  been  examining,  the  region  beyond  the  fault 
(the  Alps)  has  been  subsequently  very  greatly  in- 
vaded and  disturbed,  while  with  us  the  great  Western 
coal-field  has  remained  without  disturbance.  .  .  . 

We  see  that  the  "  Chemical  Gazette  "  and  Jamieson 
have  republished  our  paper  upon  solubility  of  rocks, 
etc.,  but  we  have  not  seen  anything  of  the  communi- 
cation on  the  absorption  of  CO2  by  sulphuric,  which 
you  read  for  us  to  the  meeting.  I  am  quite  desirous 
that  this  should  come  out,  as  Noad  and  others  have 
been  denying  our  results,  as  formerly  stated,  and  the 
brief  paper  sent  you  was,  as  I  mentioned  at  the  time, 
to  satisfy  those  who  were  doubting  on  the  subject.  .  .  . 

HENRY   TO   WILLIAM. 

PAEIS,  October  25,  1848. 

...  I  have  had  several  interesting  interviews  with 
George  Sumner,  a  brother  of  my  friend  Charles  Sum- 
ner.  He  has  been  ten  years  in  Europe,  is  very  bright 
and  full  of  historical  and  political  knowledge,  and  is 
able  to  give  me  strange  revelations  concerning  men 
and  parties  here.  Just  now  all  Paris  is  talking  of  the 
great  chances  there  are  that  Louis  Napoleon  will  be 
elected  the  first  President ;  the  day  of  election  is  set 
for  the  10th  of  November.  He  is  very  weak  intel- 
lectually, yet  formidable  from  the  blind  veneration 
which  the  peasantry,  especially  of  the  south  of  France, 
entertain  for  the  name  Napoleon.  Many  people  say 
that  after  him  will  surely  come  a  king,  Henry  V. 
At  present  all  is  pacific  in  France,  and  externally 
Paris  bears  no  marks  of  its  recent  turmoils.  The 
National  Assembly  has  finished  with  the  Constitution, 
and  the  state  of  siege  is  withdrawn,  and  all  without 
a  sensation.  My  own  belief  is  that  France  has  seen 
the  worst,  and  that  with  much  political  agitation  for 
the  next  few  years,  she  will  gradually  fit  herself  for 
republican  forms,  and  resume  her  commercial  activity. 


JET.  44.]  FRENCH  GEOLOGISTS.  293 

HENRY    TO   ROBERT. 

LONDON,  November  5,  1848. 

...  As  I  stated  in  my  letter  to  William  I  went  to 
the  Institute  and  there  saw  Arago,  Pouillet,  Dumas  and 
other  eminent  men.  Subsequently,  through  the  kind- 
ness of  ^Pentland  and  De  Verneuil,  I  saw  and  conversed 
with  Elie  de  Beaumont,  Count  D'Archiac,  Valen- 
ciennes and  others.  Elie  de  Beaumont  seemed  right 
glad  to  see  me,  and  gratified  me  much  by  the  manner 
in  which  he  spoke  of  the  labours  of  William  and  my- 
self in  geology,  and  of  the  fraternal  association  of  our 
names.  He  had  read  all  we  have  written,  and  even 
said,  at  the  meetings  of  our  Association.  My  re- 
ception by  D'Archiac  was  of  the  same  flattering  sort. 
Being  occupied  on  a  work  of  the  history  of  the  recent 
progress  of  Geology,  the  first  volume  of  which  is  in 
print,  he  has  been  a  careful  student  of  American 
Geology,  and  I  found  him  well  informed  in  relation 
to  our  colours,  which  he  seems  highly  to  appreciate, 
as  I  had  already  learned  from  his  friend  De  Verneuil. 

.  .  .  Not  only  was  it  gratifying  to  find  our  names 
well  known  in  Paris  by  the  geologists,  it  was  more  so 
to  perceive  that  the  views  we  have  contended  for  at 
home,  often  in  the  face  of  a  bitter  opposition,  meet 
general  approval.  Thus,  our  doctrine  of  flexures 
being  produced  by  an  undulation  of  the  crust  will, 
I  feel  convinced,  meet  a  prompt  reception  by  the 
French  geologists,  even  while  many  of  the  English 
may  hesitate. 

LONDON,  December  1,  1848. 

I  have  returned  from  a  visit  of  four  days  to  Sedg- 
wick,  who  entertained  me  in  a  most  hospitable  and 
complimentary  manner,  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 
He  was  delighted  with  our  maps  and  sections.  I 
dined  at  his  table  with  Adams,  Hopkins,  Challis,1 
etc.,  and  had  much  pleasant  chat  with  them  there 
and  on  other  occasions  about  our  geological  generaliza- 

1  An  English  astronomer. 


294          THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1848. 

tions  and  other  topics.  I  also  saw  Whewell,  who  is 
certainly  a  Hercules  in  his  way,  and  yesterday,  at  the 
anniversary  dinner  of  the  Royal  Society,  sat  between 
him  and  Murchison.  He  asked  me  concerning  some 
points  in  my  earthquake  theory,  and  I  entered  into 
the  whole  subject.  He  took  a  very  large  view  of  the 
question,  and  pleased  me  by  telling  me  not  to  be  im- 
peded by  Hopkins's  mathematics,  for  observation  and 
a  common-sense  view  of  the  mechanism  in  such  a  case 
was  infinitely  safer  than  the  calculus.  He  said,  more- 
over, what  I  had  suspected,  that  Hopkins  has  passed 
over  greater  unexplained  elements  to  seize  upon  a 
lesser  one,  and  has  been  precipitate  in  deciding  that 
there  can  be  no  countervailing  conditions  connected 
with  nutation  and  precession.  In  fact,  he  thinks  the 
determination  of  thickness  of  the  earth's  crust,  by 
such  a  line  of  argument,  quite  wild.  This  gives  me 
new  courage,  for  the  geologists  have  had  a  supersti- 
tious awe  of  Hopkins's  mathematics,  as  Whewell  says, 
a  lot  of  "  Oxford  superstition." 

Professor  Rogers,  replying  to  a  letter  from  a  parent, 
asking  advice  concerning  the  education  of  his  son, 
writes :  — 

TO  JOSEPH   ALLEN,   ESQ. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VEKGINIA,  October  7,  1848. 
.  .  .  We  have  as  yet  in  this  country  no  school  of 
mining  and  metallurgy,  nor  can  your  son  procure  at 
any  of  our  universities  direct  practical  instruction  on 
this  subject.  At  Harvard,  the  Lawrence  School  em- 
braces a  course  of  practical  chemical  analysis,  and  is 
designed  also  to  include  a  course  on  geology,  but  on 
this  latter  subject,  I  believe  provision  has  not  yet  been 
made  for  instruction  in  mining  and  practical  metal- 
lurgy. At  Yale,  the  laboratory  furnishes  some  facili- 
ties, but  less  ample  than  those  of  Harvard.  At  either 
of  these  institutions  he  could,  I  think,  obtain  such  a 
knowledge  of  practical  chemistry  as  would  aid  him  in 


^T.44.]       QUIET  AT   THE    UNIVERSITY.  295 

his  future  vocation,  and  with  this  he  should  unite  the 
study  of  mineralogy  and  geology,  which,  although  not 
taught  at  those  places  to  great  extent,  or  with  a 
systematic  practical  bearing,  would  throw  a  useful 
light  on  his  pursuits.  Were  I  to  decide  between  the 
two  institutions,  I  should  be  disposed  to  recommend 
the  Lawrence  School  at  Cambridge.  .  .  . 

In  the  beginning  of  1849,  Henry  had  returned  from 
Europe,  and  was  preparing  to  give  a  course  of  Lowell 
lectures  on  the  Application  of  Science  to  the  Useful 
Arts.  William  writes  of  himself  and  his  classes  to 
Henry  in  Boston. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VERGINIA,  January  26,  1849. 

DEAE  HENRY,  ...  As  I  get  on  now  with  my 
classes,  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  carry  them  through 
all  that  is  needful  in  my  department  before  the  close 
of  May,  or  at  any  rate,  by  the  first  week  in  June. 
The  students  seem  all  rejoiced  at  my  coming  back, 
and  are  willing  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  help  on  the 
course.  The  University  has  continued  perfectly  quiet 
from  the  opening  of  the  session  to  this  hour.  At 
night  not  a  voice  is  heard  to  break  the  general  tran- 
quillity. The  kindest  feelings  prevail  towards  the 
college  authorities.  This  is  a  truly  gratifying  state 
of  things.  ...  I  weigh  135  pounds,  which  is  quite  a 
gain. 

Early  in  March,  1849,  occurred  the  death  of  Mr. 
James  Rogers  the  uncle,  some  of  whose  letters  have 
been  given  above  and  who  had  for  some  years  made 
his  home  with  William.  In  writing  to  one  of  the 
brothers,  William  says :  "  To  me  his  loss  is  a  sad 
blow,  for  he  has  for  eight  years  past  been  my  constant 
companion  .  .  .  and  I  feel  truly  desolate." 

In  May  Mr.  Eogers   received  a  letter  from  Pro- 


296          THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1849. 

fessor  Joseph  Henry,  detailing  a  plan  for  courses  of 
lectures  in  the  Smithsonian  Institution  :  — 

SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION.  May  31,  1849. 

PROFESSOR  W.  B.  EOGERS: 

My  dear  /Sir,  —  Dr.  Bache  informs  me  that  you 
have  made  an  interesting  series  of  observations  on 
thunderstorms,  from  which  it  appears  that  storms 
of  this  kind  occur  nearly  at  the  same  time,  in  patches, 
along  lines  extending  many  miles  in  an  east  and 
west  direction.  Please  inform  me  whether  your  ob- 
servations have  been  published,  and  if  so,  where  I 
can  have  access  to  an  account  of  them. 

We  have  commenced  our  courses  of  lectures  in  the 
Smithsonian  Institution,  but  shall  not  do  much  in 
this  line  until  after  the  meeting  of  Congress.  The 
plan  we  have  adopted  is  that  of  inviting  only  those 
who  have  distinguished  themselves  by  original  re- 
search, or  those  who  can  speak  with  authority  from 
their  own  experience  on  the  subject  on  which  they 
lecture.  Among  those  by  whose  assistance  we  wish 
to  make  an  impression  on  Congress,  in  the  way  of 
improving  the  science  of  the  country,  are  your  bro- 
ther Henry  and  yourself.  I  regret  that  our  funds 
are  so  much  absorbed  by  the  erection  of  the  building, 
that  we  are  able  to  pay  scarcely  more  than  is  suffi- 
cient to  defray  the  expense,  say  twenty-five  dollars  a 
lecture. 

I  remain,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JOSEPH  HENRY, 
/Secretary,  Smithsonian  Institution. 

On  account  of  ill-health  Professor  Rogers  applied 
for  and  received  leave  to  close  his  courses  at  the 
University  somewhat  earlier  than  usual.  On  June  20, 
1849,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Emma  Savage,  eldest 
daughter  of  Hon.  James  Savage,  LL.  D.,  author  of  the 
"  Genealogical  Dictionary  of  New  England ;  "  and  on 


^T.  44.]  VOYAGE  TO  EUROPE.  297 

the  same  day  sailed   from   Boston  for   England  via 
Halifax,  on  the  Cunard  steamer  Europa. 

TO   HIS    BROTHERS   IN   AMERICA. 

LIVERPOOL,  Sunday,  July  1,  1849. 

.  .  .  Our  passage  has  been  without  any  stormy 
weather,  but  excepting  two  days  we  have  been  con- 
tinually in  a  thick,  cold  fog. 

You  will  see  in  the  paper  that  accompanies  this  a 
detailed  account  of  the  heart-rending  casualty  of 
which  we  were  witnesses  on  Wednesday  last,  in  the 
midst  of  the  Atlantic.  At  a  time  when  the  fog  was 
so  thick  that  it  was  impossible  to  discover  any  object 
at  a  distance  equal  to  the  length  of  our  own  vessel,  a 
ship  of  400  tons,  laden  with  iron  and  lead,  and  hav- 
ing on  board  160  passengers,  together  with  a  crew  of 
14,  advanced  directly  towards  us.  We  were  moving 
at  the  rate  of  12  knots,  and  the  approaching  ship 
with  all  the  speed  her  full-spread  canvas  could  im- 
part. Collision  was  inevitable,  and  it  took  place  al- 
most immediately  after  her  sails  were  discovered  from 
our  deck.  Our  bow  entered  her  a  little  behind  the 
main  hatchway,  and,  like  an  enormous  wedge,  actually 
penetrated  nearly  to  the  opposite  side.  An  awful 
scene  of  silent  horror  ensued.  Before  the  boats  could 
be  lowered  to  rescue  the  men  and  women  and  children 
crowding  the  deck,  the  vessel  went  down,  and  in  the 
resistless  vortex  of  waters  carried  down  the  greater 
part  of  those  on  board.  Out  of  the  whole,  only  about 
forty  were  saved,  and  of  them  but  one  woman,  al- 
though there  were  forty  women  on  board!  ...  It 
was  fortunate  that  our  ship  was  so  stanch  at  the  bows, 
for  the  whole  of  the  outer  bow,  or  cut-water,  was  torn 
away,  and  even  the  main  timbers  beneath  deeply 
lacerated.  But  not  the  slightest  injury  was  done  to 
her  framing  or  butts.  For  a  time,  until  this  was  con- 
fidently known,  there  was  the  most  painful  anxiety 
among  those  of  us  on  board  who  understood  the  great 


298  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1849. 

peril  in  which  we  had  been  placed.  Excepting  this 
sad  event,  our  voyage  has  been  a  very  happy  one. 
.  .  .  Two  or  three  of  the  passengers  had  been  fellow- 
travellers  of  Henry,  and  knew  me  at  once  by  our  like- 
ness. 

The  first  sight  of  the  Irish  coast,  near  Cape  Clear, 
and  the  view  of  that  picturesque  shore,  as  we  sailed 
along  and  near  it  for  many  hours  yesterday  morning, 
filled  my  heart  with  a  pleasure  indescribably  sweet 
and  sad.  I  felt  that  its  heathery  hills  and  verdant 
slopes  claimed  something  of  a  filial  love,  and  spoke  to 
me  in  our  dear  father's  voice.  God  bless  and  prosper 
that  beautiful  but  helpless  land !  We  had  a  most 
charming  run  up  the  Channel  yesterday  evening  and 
last  night ;  and  through  the  soft  haze  I  this  morning 
saw  the  bold  outline  of  the  Welsh  mountains  with  an 
interest  and  delight  which  you  can  better  imagine 
than  I  describe.  My  own  dear  brothers,  need  I  tell 
you  that  I  have  more  than  ever  tenderly  and  affection- 
ately thought  of  you  all.  .  .  . 

We  reached  London  after  a  most  charming  jour- 
ney. Mrs.  Chapman 1  was  expecting  us,  and  had  pro- 
vided a  comfortable  room  in  a  quiet  part  of  the  house. 
The  position,  142  Strand,  is  good  for  sight-seeing,  and 
the  house  is  comfortable.  .  .  . 

TO   HIS   BROTHER    HENRY. 

LONBON,  July  13,  1849. 

.  .  .  De  la  Beche  has  been  extremely  kind.  Buck- 
land  gave  up  all  the  spare  hours  of  last  Sunday  to  us, 
and  we  breakfasted  with  him,  attended  service,  and 
heard  the  wondrous  harmony  of  the  Abbey  Choir  and 
organ ;  then  were  conducted  by  him  over  all  the  Ab- 
bey, seeing  many  parts  that  are  not  commonly  shown  ; 
then  lunched  with  him.  He  spoke  warmly  of  you.  I 
have  seen  Playfair  and  Phillips,  Mantell,  Morris, 
Grant,  Sowerby  and  Forbes,  but  as  yet  have  missed 
Murchison  and  Mitchell.  On  our  return  from  Scot- 
1  Wife  of  John  Chapman,  editor  of  the  Westminster  Review. 


^T.  44.]  LONDON  AND  EDINBURGH.  299 

land  I  hope  to  see  others,  and,  at  any  rate,  I  shall 
meet  them  at  the  Association.  .  .  . 

Doubleday J  has  been  as  kind  as  any  dear  old  friend 
could  be,  and  all  on  your  account,  my  dear  Henry.  I 
am  quite  charmed  with  the  frank  politeness  and  ever 
active  kindness  of  those  we  have  met.  .  .  . 

It  has  been  a  source  of  no  small  gratification  to 
find  our  names  so  well  known,  and  so  respected  by  the 
men  of  science.  I  need  no  other  introductions,  and 
this  I  have  been  repeatedly  told  by  those  I  have  met 
with.  One  gentleman,  Professor  Hopkins,  of  Cam- 
bridge, who  was  with  us  at  the  Dean's,  and  who  spoke 
highly  of  you,  said  that  we  really  emulated  the  Greg- 
orys of  Scotland,  and  that  it  was  truly  delightful  to  see 
four  brothers  all  devoting  themselves  to  science.  .  .  . 

What  shall  I  say  of  this  wonderful  London !  At 
first  I  could  not  take  in  the  impression  of  its  vastness. 
But  day  by  day,  as  I  have  driven  from  place  to  place, 
it  has  grown  upon  me,  until  now  I  feel  truly  over- 
whelmed with  the  thought  of  its  immensity.  And  yet 
it  is  a  cleaner  and  more  quiet  place  than  either  of  our 
great  cities.  With  all  the  amazing  activity  exhibited 
in  its  thoroughfares,  there  is  less  noise  and  less  of  the 
feverish  driving  than  you  witness  with  us.  People 
give  more  time  to  recreation  and  do  not  work  so  fast 
as  we  do.  The  English  character  is  altogether  quieter 
than  ours.  .  .  . 

GLASGOW,  July  19,  1849. 

...  I  had  the  good  luck  to  meet,  in  Johnston's 
shop  in  Edinburgh,  with  Hugh  Miller,  who  inquired 
very  kindly  after  you.  He  is  much  such  a  man  as  I 
expected  to  see  from  your  description.  Just  now  he 
is  bringing  out  a  little  work  designed  as  an  answer  to 
the  geological  part  of  the  "  Vestiges,"  which,  as  I  sup- 
pose you  know,  is  now  universally  accredited  to  the 
pen  of  Robert  Chambers.  .  .  . 

Of  all  the  places  we  have  seen,  Edinburgh  is  cer- 
tainly the  most  picturesque  and  beautiful.     The  eye 
1  Edward  Doubleday,  English  naturalist,  1810-1849. 


300  THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1849. 

could  hardly  tire  of  the  grand  scene  before  us,  as  we 
gazed  from  our  window  in  Prince's  Street  over  the 
deep  and  narrow  valley  of  the  Prince's  garden,  to  the 
Castle,  crowning  with  its  irregular  massive  walls  and 
battlements  the  lofty,  blackened  crag,  and  the  tower- 
ing walls  of  the  strange  edifices,  which  extend  them- 
selves thence  towards  the  Old  City,  descending  into 
the  dark,  narrow  avenues  of  the  Cowgate  and  Cannon- 
gate,  until  they  are  closed  by  the  old,  gray  towers  of 
Holyrood.  .  .  . 

We  are  both  much  pleased  with  the  Scotch. 

.  .  .  My  dear  brothers,  I  could  throw  my  arms 
around  you  in  the  fervour  and  fulness  of  my  heart's 
love  for  you.  God  bless  you.  Be  careful  of  your 
precious  health.  I  trust  dear  Robert  will  use  the  sea- 
sou  wisely  for  recreation,  and  that  James  will  do  like- 
wise. I  will  collect  all  the  information  I  can  for 
them  on  chemical  apparatus,  etc.,  when  I  get  back 
here  and  to  London.  .  .  . 

LONDON,  August  9,  1849. 

...  By  the  papers  I  see  that  great  preparations 
are  making  for  the  Birmingham  meeting,  which  prom- 
ises to  be  an  unusually  large  and  spirited  one.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Clarke  [the  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke]  is 
now  here,  and  will  not  leave  for  the  Continent,  I  be- 
lieve, until  next  week.  .  .  .  We  shall  regret  to  part 
with  him,  for  we  have  really  enjoyed  his  society  since 
he  came  to  London.  But  his  plan  of  travel  and  his 
objects  are  so  different  from  ours  that  our  union  would 
only  incommode  and  obstruct  both  parties.  We  all 
went  together  last  night  to  Astley's. 

I  may  mention,  as  a  good  token  in  regard  to  my 
health,  that  in  crossing  Waterloo  Bridge  I  was  weighed 
by  one  of  the  convenient  machines  stationed  there, 
and  I  came  up  to  145  pounds  !  My  throat  only  occa- 
sionally gives  me  any  annoyance,  and  then  it  is  but 
slight.  I  expect  confidently  to  go  home  enjoying 
better  health  than  I  have  had  for  several  years,  but 
my  throat  will  still  require  care. 


.  44.]  THE  RHINE.  301 


HEIDELBERG,  August  19, 1849. 

...  I  hourly  wish  to  communicate  to  you  fully 
all  the  pleasing  impressions  I  receive  in  my  travels 
through  this  most  delightful  region,  so  beautiful  by 
nature  and  exquisite  cultivation,  and  so  rich  in  monu- 
ments of  the  past. 

Professor  and  Mrs.  Bischoff1  were  affectionately 
pressing  in  their  entreaties  that  we  would  remain 
longer  in  Bonn.  Von  Dechen  was  absent ;  Von  Buch 
had  lately  been  at  Bonn  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the 
Naturforscher,  at  which  Bischoff  presided,  but  had  left 
for  Berlin  before  we  got  to  Bonn.  Robert  and  James 
need  not  be  ashamed  of  their  laboratory  arrangements, 
compared  with  those  of  Bischoff,  or  indeed  any  others 
I  have  seen.  Bischoff  and  Noeggerath  repeated  sev- 
eral times,  with  marked  admiration,  the  fact  that  there 
were  four  brothers  of  us  all  engaged  in  science.  I 
find  that  on  the  Continent  the  title  of  Professor  is 
one  of  the  most  valuable  I  could  bear,  and  that  being 
known  as  an  American  is  much  in  my  favour.  The 
number  of  the  English  we  meet  in  all  the  boats  and 
hotels  is  really  amazing,  and  with  them  is  no  small 
sprinkling  of  our  own  countrymen,  none  of  whom,  how- 
ever, have  thus  far  proved  specially  attractive.  .  .  . 

We  spent  the  late  afternoon  yesterday  in  rambling 
over  the  heights,  which  are  occupied  by  the  ruins  of 
the  castle,  and  by  its  lovely  parks  and  gardens,  and 
enjoying  the  superb  views,  afforded  from  those  lofty 
terraces,  of  the  city,  river,  neighbouring  mountains, 
and  the  far-stretching  Valley  of  the  Rhine,  walled 
in  on  the  horizon  by  the  blue  heights  of  the  Vosges 
in  France.  Nothing  of  the  kind  could  exceed  the 
beauty  of  the  cultivated  plain  and  the  mountain  slope, 
called  the  Bergstrasse,  between  Frankfort  and  this 
place.  Indeed,  throughout  all  the  Valley  of  the 
Rhine  and  its  tributaries,  we  have  had  but  a  succes- 
sion of  pictures,  rich  with  cultivation  and  abounding 
1  Gustav  Bischoff,  Professor  of  Geology  at  Bonn. 


302  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1849. 

in  views  combining  all  the  elements  of  picturesque 
beauty. 

But  in  this  lovely  land  where  the  landscape  is  so 
smiling,  there  remain  social  features  which  the  feeling 
traveller  is  called  upon  hourly  to  deplore.  The  peo- 
ple, kind-hearted  and  simple-minded  as  I  think  they 
are,  and  intelligent,  as  they  certainly  prove  themselves, 
are  sadly  pressed  down  by  their  political  institutions, 
and  so  strongly  have  the  cords  of  power,  aided  by  old 
prejudices,  been  woven  about  their  limbs,  that  I  fear 
a  long  time  must  elapse  before  they  can  place  them- 
selves in  that  erect  and  fearless  attitude  for  which  of 
late,  many  have  been  earnestly  but  blindly  struggling. 
Nothing  I  have  seen  on  this  side  the  Atlantic  has 
impressed  me  so  painfully  as  the  continual  display  of 
military  force  we  meet  with  in  our  travels.  All  the 
towns  are  crowded  with  troops,  chiefly  Prussian. 
Frankfort  is  at  this  time  occupied  by  Austrian,  Prus- 
sian and  Bavarian  battalions.  From  every  height  on 
the  Rhine  the  ramparts,  bristling  with  cannon  and 
resounding  with  the  rattling  drum,  frown  down  upon 
the  peaceful  villages,  and  intimate  to  the  traveller  the 
fears  of  the  rulers  and  the  terrible  scenes  which  are 
likely  to  result  when  the  antagonizing  elements  are 
brought  into  actual  conflict.  Oh,  how  happy  should 
we  be  in  America,  in  that  security  and  sanctity  of 
personal  rights  and  free  progress  which  we  enjoy ! 

We  are  now  emerging  from  the  region  of  almost 
unmixed  Romanism  into  the  land  of  Protestants.  I 
am  not  sure  that  we  shall  find  any  great  improvement 
of  morals  or  of  social  comforts.  .  .  . 

We  had  much  rain  between  Coblentz  and  Mayence, 
but  were  able  to  keep  on  deck  and  see  every  impor- 
tant site  as  we  passed.  The  Old  Slates,  which  are  so 
largely  exposed  from  time  to  time  in  the  lofty  hills  on 
either  side,  reminded  me  continually  of  the  aspect  of 
our  Matinal  slate,  as  exhibited  in  the  valley  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Virginia,  where  it  is  most  largely  devel- 
oped, and  is  barren  of  fossils.  In  this  long  section 


.Ex.  44.]  THE  ALPS.  303 

the  dips,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  are  to  S.  E.,  but 
I  discovered  an  alternation  of  steeper  and  gentler  dips 
in  that  direction,  such  as  I  have  marked  in  our  folded 
rocks,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  whole  of  this  wide 
slaty  belt  consists  of  such  folded  masses.  How  curious 
that  here,  as  with  us,  these  and  the  other  Silurians 
have  a  general  N.  E.  and  S.  W.  strike.  .  .  . 

I  will  try  to  make  one  or  more  good  sections  in  the 
Jura,  and  as  many  in  the  Alps.  .  .  . 

TO   MRS.   JAMES   SAVAGE. 

GENEVA,  September  7,  1849. 

...  I  need  not  say,  dear  mother,  that  in  all  our 
journeyings  and  enjoyings  we  have  wished  that  you 
were  with  us,  for  who  could  feel  more  deeply  than 
you  the  happiness  of  communing  with  the  beautiful 
Alpine  flowers  and  the  clear  rushing  streams,  or  the 
majestic  solitudes  where  snowy  Alps  sit  girdled  by  the 
clouds,  or  fold  their  glacier  drapery  around  green  val- 
leys musical  with  tinkling  bells  or  the  soft  voice  of 
the  rude  Alpine  horn.  You  will  smile  at  the  poetic 
vein  into  which  my  pen  is  falling,  but  no  one  better 
understands  the  enthusiasm  which  such  scenes  can 
awaken,  and  had  you  been  with  us  I  am  sure  you 
would  say  that  the  highest  efforts  of  the  descriptive 
muse  must  fail  to  paint  the  sublime  and  lovely  scenes 
through  which  we  have  been  travelling.  Since  Emma's 
last  letter  we  have  ascended  the  Valley  of  the  Rhone 
to  Martigny,  have  crossed  the  celebrated  pass  of  the 
Tete  Noir,  and  have  sojourned  for  a  day  or  two  at 
Chamounix,  where  from  the  chamber  window  we  com- 
manded a  superb  view  of  Mont  Blanc.  The  sky  was 
clear  all  the  time,  and  we  saw  the  snowy  slopes  of  this 
vast  pile  successively  in  the  dazzling  brightness  of 
sunshine,  in  the  exquisite  rose  hues  of  the  evening, 
and  in  the  soft  phosphorescence  of  the  moonlight. 
What  pictures  there  and  elsewhere  in  the  Alps  have 
been  engraved  upon  our  hearts !  .  .  . 


304          THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.         [1849. 


BIRMINGHAM.  September  14. 

We  have  been  all  the  morning  at  the  meeting  of 
the  Association,  and  are  going  by  and  by  to  the  great 
dinner,  where  I  suppose  there  will  be  much  amuse- 
ment in  the  way  of  speaking  after  the  cloth  is  re- 
moved, and  when  I  suppose  I  shall  be  compelled  to 
show  my  Yankee  "  gift  of  the  gab."  We  are  having 
a  very  pleasant  time  here.  The  scientific  gentlemen 
are  very  kind  and  complimentary,  and  Lady  Lyell, 
Miss  Phillips  and  others  will  help  to  make  E.  at 
home. 

On  our  return  to  London,  we  shall  see  Mr.  Kenyon  * 
and  other  friends,  and  will  not  again  ramble  from 
the  great  metropolis,  except  on  a  short  excursion  to 
Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Professors  Buckland  and 
Sedgwick,  who  are  here,  are  very  desirous  of  our 
making  such  a  visit.  .  .  . 


TO   HIS   BROTHERS. 

LONDON,  September  21,  1849. 

I  have  now  for  the  first  time,  leisure  sufficient  for 
an  account  of  the  delightful  meeting  at  Birmingham. 
By  the  last  steamer  I  wrote  a  hasty  line  the  day  after 
I  reached  Birmingham,  and  before  I  knew  much  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Association.  From  the  humble  but  com- 
fortable quarters  in  which  we  had  placed  ourselves, 
we  were  soon  transferred  to  the  keeping  of  the  city, 
and  were  placed  in  very  elegant  apartments  in  the 
superb  edifice  of  the  Grammar  School,  where  most  of 
the  sections  held  their  meetings.  Here  the  kindness 
of  Mr.  Gifford,  the  principal,  and  his  wife  made  us 
very  comfortable.  For  this  very  pleasant  and  com- 
plimentary change  we  are  no  doubt  indebted  to  the 
friendly  suggestion  of  Phillips,  Lyell  and  Horner,  all 
of  whom  have  been  cordially  kind  in  their  attentions 
to  us.  Miss  Phillips  was  much  with  E.,  and  Mrs. 
1  John  Kenyon,  English  poet,  1784-1856. 


JET.  44.]  BIRMINGHAM  MEETING.  305 

Lyell  and  Miss  Horner  displayed  much  interest  in 
having  her  comfortable,  and  contributing  to  her 
pleasure. 

No  one  could  have  been  more  warmly  and  heartily 
welcomed  than  I  was,  not  merely  by  those  who  per- 
sonally knew  me,  but  by  the  scientific  men  generally, 
with  the  greater  number  of  whom  I  soon  became  ac- 
quainted,— Darwin,  Ansted,  Ramsay,  Mallet,  Oldham, 
Griffiths  and,  above  all,  Murchison,  Sedgwick  and 
Phillips  among  the  geologists,  taking  me  cordially  by 
the  hand.  Phillips,  Murchison,  and  De  la  Beche 
were  throughout  generously  kind  to  me,  and  Lyell 
and  Horner  scarcely  less  so.  The  chemists  were  no 
less  hospitable,  —  Percy,  Playfair,  Hunt,  Steuhouse, 
Warington,  etc.,  all  paid  me  kind  attentions.  In 
the  physical  section  I  was  rarely  able  to  be  pres- 
ent, yet  I  esteem  myself  happy  in  having  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Brewster,  Robinson,  Adams  and 
Faraday.  But  let  me  say  a  word  of  my  own  doings. 

On  Friday,  the  day  after  our  arrival  (which  I 
regret  we  deferred  so  late),  I  made  my  de*but,  as  I 
mentioned  formerly,  in  some  remarks  connected  with 
Murchison's  paper  on  gold  veins.  On  that  night 
another  opportunity  of  a  rather  different  kind  was 
afforded  me  of  speaking.  This  was  in  reply  to  a 
toast  of  Murchison,  in  which  he  referred  to  the  cor- 
responding members,  naming  you  in  terms  of  the 
strongest  eulogy,  and  calling  upon  me,  as  Phillips  had 
previously  arranged.  I  made  quite  a  respectable 
speech,  which  was  often  and  loudly  applauded,  and  at 
the  close  I  was  honoured  by  many  flattering  congratu- 
lations from  De  la  Beche,  Saboni,  Dr.  Robinson,  the 
president,  Phillips  and  others.  This  dinner  was  truly 
a  grand  affair.  More  than  seven  hundred  were  seated 
in  a  hall  said  to  be  the  most  spacious  and  elegant  of 
the  kind  anywhere  in  Britain.  You  may  imagine  how 
my  heart  beat  to  hear  your  name  so  honoured,  and  to 
have  our  labours  so  warmly  eulogized.  I  sat  between 
Phillips  and  De  la  Beche,  and  near  the  president. 


306  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1849. 

Forchhammer  and  Schroeter,  of  Jena,  were  also  there, 
but  had  nothing  to  say.  .  .  . 

"  Mallet,"  above  referred  to,  was  the  distinguished 
English  engineer,  whose  son,  J.  W.  Mallet,  afterwards 
for  many  years  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia,  was  also  present  at  this  dinner,  and 
has  described  Mr.  Rogers's  appearance  on  this  occa- 
sion : l  — 

"  Although  I  was  but  a  boy  at  the  time,"  says  Pro- 
fessor Mallet,  "  attending  the  meeting  with  my  father, 
I  recollect  most  distinctly  the  marked  impression  made 
upon  the  large  assembly  by  Professor  Rogers's  speech, 
and  the  enthusiasm  it  kindled.  It  came  late  in  the 
evening,  after  much,  perhaps  most,  of  the  matter  ap- 
propriate to  the  occasion  had  been  already  utilized  by 
others ;  yet  it  was  clearly  the  success  of  the  banquet. 
Americans  were  less  known  in  England  than  they 
have  since  become,  and  the  slight  foreign  flavour  which 
accompanied  a  speech  excellent  in  itself,  and  fluently 
delivered  in  the  mother  tongue,  added  to  the  piquancy 
and  effect." 

Mr.  Rogers's  letter  continues :  — 

On  Saturday  the  members  occupied  themselves  with 
the  various  delightful  excursions  which  had  been  so 
well  planned  for  them.  To  Dudley,  first  to  the  re- 
markable ten-yard  coal  here  on  end,  and  then  through 
the  caves,  or  underground  quarries,  of  enormous  ex- 
tent in  the  limestone,  and  which  Lord  Dudley  had 
caused  to  be  superbly  illuminated.  There  in  the 
cavern,  while  the  blue  and  red  lights  were  glowing  in 
the  distance,  Murchison  delivered  a  geological  speech 
to  some  thousands.  After  escaping  unhurt  from  the 
crowd  and  fumigation  of  the  caverns,  we  passed  with 

1  See  an  Address  delivered  before  the  Alumni  of  the  University  of 
Virginia,  by  William  CabeU  Kives,  June  27, 1883 - 


JET.  44.]  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION.  307 

the  great  procession  to  the  base  and  sides  *>f  the  Wren's 
Nest.  There  Murchison  gave  another  geological  ha- 
rangue in  which  he  again  complimented  us  warmly  by 
name,  and  called  upon  me,  as  a  present  witness  to  his 
Silurian  researches.  He  was  followed  by  Wilberforce 
the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  a  truly  eloquent  speaker,  and 
then  I  was  compelled  to  mount  the  stump  by  a  call 
from  Murchison  and  from  all  around.  .  .  .  After  a 
pleasant  collation  in  Dudley,  and  sundry  amusing  ad- 
ventures, we  returned  in  one  of  the  beautiful  canal 
boats,  at  eight  miles  the  hour,  and  were  glad  to  get 
to  bed  and  forget  the  pleasures  and  honours  of  the  day. 

On  Monday  I  was  chiefly  active  in  the  chemical 
section,  sharing  in  several  interesting  discussions,  for 
which,  luckily,  I  had  facts  of  interest  to  state.  I  gave 
as  one,  an  account  of  the  gaseous  ingredients  of  our 
thermal  and  other  springs,  in  connection  with  a  paper 
on  the  nitrogen  of  springs,  read  by  West,  and  I  com- 
municated in  some  detail  the  mode  and  result  of  our 
researches  on  the  solvent  action  of  carbonic  acid, 
water,  etc. 

On  Tuesday  I  made  a  communication  on  the  geol- 
ogy of  Virginia,  specially  referring  to  the  features  of 
our  great  faults.  I  did  not  occupy  more  than  an- 
hour,  but  Murchison,  Lyell  and  De  la  Beche  occu- 
pied even  a  longer  time  in  expressing  their  sense  of 
the  importance  of  our  joint  labours.  Indeed,  they  laid 
on  the  compliments  so  thick  that  I  could  hardly  stand 
up  under  them.  But  it  was  a  real  triumph  and  joy  to 
hear  them  successively  declare  that  our  development 
of  the  great  law  of  flexures  was  one  of  the  grandest 
contributions  to  geology  ever  made,  and  to  find  that 
they  gave  us  the  entire  and  exclusive  credit  of  having 
thus  furnished  a  clue  to  the  most  difficult  problems  in 
European  geology.  This  really  made  me  happy  and 
proud,  and  I  only  wished,  my  dear  Henry,  that  you 
could  have  been  present  to  share  in  the  enjoyment. 
You  cannot  imagine  the  degree  of  kindness  with 
which  inquiries  were  continually  made  after  you. 


308  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [184ft 

Murchison  and  De  la  Beche,  Saboni,  Sedgwick,  Pent- 
land  and  Darwin  are  a  few  of  those  who  repeatedly 
asked  about  you,  and  spoke  of  the  pleasure  your  visit 
had  given  them.  I  should  have  named  Brewster 
among  the  first.  He  said  he  had  received  great  hap- 
piness from  your  society.  What  a  charming  man  is 
this  venerable  Scotch  philosopher!  I  could  almost 
have  knelt  down  to  ask  his  scientific  benediction.  .  .  . 

Wheatstone  has  marvellous  ingenuity.  He  showed 
me  his  exquisite  apparatus  for  making  visible  all  the 
conditions  and  combinations  of  waves,  plane,  circular, 
elliptical,  and  indeed,  of  all  possible  forms.  It  is  an 
admirable  thing  for  the  lecture-room,  and  I  intend 
purchasing  one,  although  it  will  cost  ten  pounds.  .  .  . 

In  the  Physical  section,  Robinson  gave  an  interest- 
ing popular  account  of  the  late  performances  of  Lord 
Rosse's  telescope,  which  was  perhaps  the  most  attrac- 
tive thing  done  at  the  meeting.  Mallet's  report  on 
the  statical  and  dynamic  laws  of  earthquakes  was 
able.  .  .  . 

WILLIAM    TO    HENKY. 

LONDON,  October  5,  1849. 

.  .  .  Yesterday  we  dined  at  Playfair's,  and  had  a 
pleasant  meeting  with  Wheatstone,  Lancaster,  etc. ; 
to-day  I  go  to  dine  at  Miller's  (of  King's  College), 
where  I  shall  meet  many  of  the  chemists,  among  them 
Andrews  of  Belfast,  and  probably  Magnus.1  .  .  . 

Since  my  last  to  you  we  have  made  a  short  visit  to 
Oxford,  indeed  this  was  the  cause  of  my  not  writing 
by  the  last  steamer.  We  were  delighted  with  the 
quiet  beauty  of  the  college  grounds,  and  I  felt  the 
conservative  spirit  of  the  place  sinking  into  my  heart. 
But  how  shocked  was  I  to  find  that  the  chemistry  and 
botany  of  the  great  university  was  exhausted  upon 
about  ten  students !  Ackland,  the  anatomist,  as  well 
as  good  Dr.  Bliss,  Mr.  Savage's  friend,  treated  us  with 

1  Heinrieh  Gustav  Magnus,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Physics, 
Berlin. 


^T.45.]  RETURN   TO  AMERICA.  309 

great  attention.  We  are  proposing  going  to  Cam- 
bridge to-morrow,  and  tarrying  there  until  Monday 
morning.  There  I  hope  to  see  Sedgwick,  Hopkins, 
and  perhaps  other  acquaintances. 

After  all,  our  scientific  opportunities  at  home  are 
nearly  if  not  quite  as  good  as  they  have  here.  The 
men  of  science  are  poorly  paid  and  work  hard,  and 
then  they  have  as  a  class  an  inferior  social  position. 

Professor  Rogers  returned  to  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia in  October.  Henry  was  in  Boston,  and  the 
correspondence  of  the  brothers  was  resumed. 

HENRY    TO    WILLIAM. 

BOSTON,  November  14,  1849. 

I  thank  you  for  your  very  kind  letter  of  the  llth, 
and  for  your  sincerely  affectionate  words.  These  are 
ever  to  me  a  source  of  cheerfulness  and  consolation, 
and  they  seem  at  this  time  of  double  value,  coming 
when  my  spirit  is  oppressed  with  an  unwonted  sense 
of  loneliness  and  of  life's  disappointments.  In  all 
hours  of  trial,  in  all  time  of  need,  your  love  has  given 
me  strength.  The  faith  that  some  turn  of  fortune  may 
bring  me  again  to  live,  as  in  earlier  blessed  days,  with 
you  and  our  generous  and  gentle  Robert  has  for  a 
long  while  past  been  to  me  the  one  calm  star  of  hope 
that,  when  all  other  beacons  have  gone  out,  has  never 
once  grown  dim.  Daily  do  I  take  counsel  with  my 
heart  that  it  may  keep  itself  worthy  of  a  companion- 
ship out  of  which,  if  pure,  it  will  derive  a  peace  such 
as  is  not  in  store  for  it  from  any  other  earthly  source. 
That  Heaven  may  shed  upon  you  both,  niy  dear  bro- 
thers, its  sweetest  blessings  is  my  never  ceasing  prayer. 

I  rejoice  to  learn  that  your  classes  are  so  large. 
Yours  even  much  surpasses  my  anticipations,  and  as 
for  Robert's,  it  quite  amazes  me.  .  .  . 

They  have  filled  the  chair  of  Engineering  at  the 
Lawrence  Scientific  School  a  few  weeks  ago.  Lieu- 


310  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1849. 

tenant  Eustis,  a  former  colleague  of  William  Henry 
Wright,  under  Colonel  Thayer  in  the  construction  of 
the  fortress  in  Boston  Harbor,  is  the  professor ;  he  has 
been  of  late  an  assistant  professor  at  West  Point. 
Military  engineering  is  hardly  wanted  in  this  commu- 
nity, and  something  more  should  be  given  in  the  Sci- 
entific School  of  the  applications  of  physical  science, 
than  even  civil  engineering.  .  .  . 

The  "  Warren  Club,"  now  called  the  "  Thursday 
Evening  Club,"  has  begun  its  meetings. 

The  Club  here  referred  to,  has  long  been  one  of  the 
best  features  of  Boston  life.  It  meets  at  the  houses  of 
members  on  the  first  and  third  Thursday  evenings  of 
every  month  from  December  to  April.  It  is  com- 
posed of  gentlemen  of  literary  and  scientific  tastes  or 
acquirements,  and  embraces  in  its  membership  pro- 
fessors, authors,  scientific  men,  and  leaders  in  affairs. 
Literary  and  scientific  essays  constitute  the  chief  in- 
terest of  the  meetings,  although  the  social  element  is 
not  neglected.  The  club  was  founded  by  Dr.  John  C. 
Warren,  and  named  in  his  honor.  He  was  succeeded 
in  the  presidency  by  Edward  Everett.  On  the  death 
of  his  son,  Dr.  J.  M.  Warren,  who  followed  Mr. 
Everett,  Mr.  William  B.  Rogers  became  its  president. 

WILLIAM    TO    HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  December  16,  1849. 

.  .  .  What  a  scene  is  this  our  law-makers  at  Wash- 
ington are  presenting !  Surely  the  people  will  pun- 
ish the  factionists  for  the  danger  which  their  passion 
and  party  feeling  are  threatening  to  the  country !  .  .  . 

There  is  great  excitement  growing  up  in  the  South, 
and  I  fear  there  will  be  great  passion  thrown  into  the 
debates  of  the  coming  Congress  by  both  sides.  But  as 
yet  I  have  no  fear  of  the  integrity  of  the  Union. 


.  45.]  EDUCATION.  311 


HEXRY   TO   WILLIAM. 


BOSTON,  December  22,  1849. 

...  I  had  the  pleasure  of  making  a  few  very  agree- 
able acquaintances  when  in  Providence,  among  whom 
I  deem  Dr.  Wayland l  a  valuable  accession  to  my  list. 
I  stayed  this  time,  as  before,  with  Zachariah  Allen,  a 
very  enlightened  manufacturer  and  a  trustee  of  Brown 
University.  Dr.  Wayland  dined  with  me  the  first 
day,  and  next  day  (yesterday),  I  dined  at  his  house 
with  Professor  Caswell.  Wayland  is  intent  upon 
some  valuable  and  important  collegiate  reforms,  and 
his  views  are  shared  by  Allen  and  a  majority  of  the 
trustees.  They  contemplate  an  entire  reorganization 
of  their  college,  introducing  much  more  science  and 
practical  instruction,  less  Greek,  etc.,  and  adopting 
some  of  your  system.  Wayland  is  tired  of  the  old 
monastic  system,  and  is  wishing  to  see  the  colleges 
more  like  our  ideal  School  of  Arts,  if  they  cannot  be 
true  universities.  I  have  nowhere  found  a  more  en- 
lightened and  independent  thinker  than  Wayland. 
He  has  great  native  strength  which  has  enabled  him 
to  get  himself  free  from  many  early  trammels.  You 
would  be  greatly  interested  in  his  views. 

I  think  the  time  is  nearly  at  hand  for  an  important 
revolution  in  this  whole  matter  of  collegiate  education. 
The  old  institutions  with  their  vast  funds,  educating 
youth  at  enormous  expense,  yet  fitting  them  for  no- 
thing truly  useful  or  calculated  to  advance  the  age, 
must  soon  meet  the  rivalry  of  institutions  which  will 
embody  modern  ideas. 

Wayland  much  wishes  a  copy  of  your  exposition  of 
the  system,  etc.,  at  the  University,  Memorial  to  the 
Legislature,  and  any  documents  or  notes  of  your  own 
having  a  bearing  on  the  subject.  He  has  had  a  copy 
and  lent  it  to  some  of  his  trustees,  and  it  may  not 
suffice  for  his  wants  just  now,  therefore  send  him 
another.  I  wish  you  and  I  could  together  put  our 
1  President  of  Brown  University. 


312  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1850. 

thoughts  on  paper,  —  we  need  not  just  now  print,  —  on 
this  whole  subject  of  the  sort  of  collegiate  institution 
which  would  best  suit  the  true  wants  (I  do  not  mean 
the  conservative  wishes)  of  the  United  States,  or 
rather  of  New  England,  where  we  might  show  what 
departments  of  human  knowledge  in  especial  should 
be  taught,  and  next,  how  taught.  We  should  find 
most  willing  readers  in  Way  land  and  Allen  and  their 
friends.  Now,  or  soon,  I  conceive  to  be  the  fitting 
time. 

Dr.  Wayland  and  Mr.  Allen  visited  the  University 
of  Virginia  in  1850,  and  were  the  guests  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Rogers.  Dr.  Wayland  afterwards  published  a 
Report  which  "  is  said  to  have  marked  an  era  in  the 
history  of  collegiate  education  in  America."  1 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVKRSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  January  13,  1850. 

.  .  .  Have  you  seen  Henfrey's  "  Outlines  of  Struc- 
tural and  Physiological  Botany  "  ?  It  is  an  admirably 
compact  little  work,  posting  up  the  subject  to  the 
latest  microscopic  researches.  Is  it  not  odd  that  com- 
parative anatomy  here  succeeds  without  owning  or 
using  even  so  much  as  a  pocket  microscope  ?  .  .  . 

The  proposition  is  again  before  the  legislature  in 
Richmond  to  appoint  an  agricultural  chemist  and 
mineralogist  for  the  State,  to  make  analyses  of  soils, 
etc.,  and  deliver  lectures  in  the  counties  as  well  as 
make  annual  reports  to  the  government.  Some  of 
the  folks  in  these  parts  have  wonderful  faith  in  agri- 
cultural chemistry,  believing  that  if  they  once  know 
the  composition  of  their  soils,  they  are  sure  to  be  able 
to  make  their  land  and  themselves  rich.  Liebig 
with  much  good  has  done  some  harm.  The  agricultu- 

1  Thomas  Jefferson  and  the  University  of  Virginia,  by  H.  B.  Adams ; 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education:  Circulars  of  Information, No.  1,  1888, 
p.  131. 


^T.  45.]  DR.  WAYLAND'S    VISIT.  313 

ral  problem,  so  far  from  being  solved,  is  only  begin- 
ning to  be  properly  investigated.  Is  it  not  true  that 
the  problem  combines  all  the  difficulty  of  the  most 
complex  chemical,  with  the  most  obscure  physiological 
questions?  Is  it  not  as  difficult,  or  more  difficult 
than  the  medical  problem  ?  .  .  . 

HENRY   TO  WILLIAM. 

BOSTON,  March,  1850. 

...  I  am  also  busy  as  Chairman  of  a  Committee  for 
ventilating  the  Natural  History  Society's  rooms.  .  .  . 
For  a  man  of  any  brains  whatever,  Boston  has  no 
peace  or  quiet,  all  is  restless  excitement  and  unpro- 
ductive change  of  thought  and  of  pursuit.  The  over- 
working of  the  brain  here  without  the  fruits  of 
intellectual  labour  is  appalling  to  a  mind  of  contem- 
plative tendencies.  Often  do  I  envy  you  and  Robert 
your  calmer  studious  atmosphere.  .  .  . 

WILLIAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  18, 1850. 
.  .  .  Dr.  Wayland  and  Mr.  Allen  arrived  on  Tuesday 
afternoon  and  remained  with  us  until  Wednesday 
night.  Dr.  Wayland  attended  all  the  morning  lec- 
tures on  Wednesday,  as  did  Mr.  Allen  also,  and  both 
expressed  themselves  as  greatly  pleased  with  our  sys- 
tem. They  appear  quite  determined  to  adopt  our 
more  liberal  features  in  their  new  scheme.  They 
spent  their  time  chiefly  here  and  at  Robert's,  and  were 
evidently  much  gratified  by  the  welcome  we  gave 
them.  The  members  of  the  faculty  called  upon  them, 
and  were  much  struck  by  the  intelligence  and  large 
views  of  Dr.  W.  On  the  whole  I  am  satisfied  that 
our  guests  have  carried  away  with  them  much  encour- 
agement for  their  plan  of  reform,  as  well  as  valu- 
able guides  in  conducting  them.  Robert  and  I  had 
a  great  deal  of  pleasant  talk  with  both  gentlemen, 
especially  with  Dr.  Wayland,  and  were  charmed  by 


314          THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.         [1850. 

his  liberal  and  expansive  spirit,  as  well  as  his  remark- 
able clearness  of  head.  He  spoke  frequently  of  you 
and  always  with  much  commendation.1  .  .  . 

Some  days  ago  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Joseph 
Cabell  written  informally  in  behalf  of  the  directors  of 
the  James  River  and  Kanawha  Company,  requesting 
me  to  make  a  geological  examination  of  the  mountain 
belt  in  the  Allegheny  from  near  the  Sweet  Springs 
across  to  the  north  of  Greensboro,  etc.,  with  a  view  to 
decide  upon  the  feasibility  of  placing  there  large 
feeders  for  the  canal,  which  is  designed  to  pass 
through  that  belt.  You  know  this  is  Mr.  C.'s  hobby, 
and  he  urges  me  strongly  to  undertake  the  work  next 


TO   HUGH   MILLER. 

UKIVEKSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  May  6, 1850. 

To  HUGH  MILLER,  ESQ.  : 

My  dear  /Sir,  —  My  friend  Professor  Hitchcock 
hopes  to  meet  with  you  while  in  Scotland,  and  as  I 
have  already  had  that  good  fortune,  I  am  proud  of 
the  opportunity  of  giving  him  a  line  of  introduction 
to  you.  His  name  is,  I  am  sure,  well  known  to  you 
in  connection  with  American  geology.  Our  New  Red 
sandstone  has  borrowed  from  his  able  researches  an 
interest  somewhat  akin  to  that  which  your  eloquent 
revelations  have  imparted  to  the  Old  Red  of  Scotland. 
I  do  not  doubt  that  the  author  of  "  Footprints  "  will 
find  in  the  explorer  of  "  Bird  Tracks  "  a  congenial 
mind. 

With  many  thanks  for  the  pleasure  I  have  had  in 
reading  your  last  work,  and  with  the  kindest  wishes, 
I  remain, 

Very  truly  yours, 

WILLIAM  B.  ROGERS. 

1  Reference  is  made  to  this  visit  of  the  authorities  of  Brown  Uni- 
versity in  A  Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Labors  of  Francis  Wayland, 
D.  D.  and  LL.  D.,  by  hia  sons,  Francis  and  H.  L.  Wayland,  pp.  92 
and  93,  N.  Y.,  1867. 


2Err.  45.]  NEWPORT.  315 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  May  12, 1850. 
.  .  .  Professor  Froebel l  stayed  with  me  the  two  days 
of  his  sojourn  here.  He  won  the  sympathy  and  regard 
of  all  of  us.  How  much  he  has  lived  in  a  short  life, 
and  how  truly  does  he  deserve  respect  and  honour  for 
the  spirit  in  which  he  has  devoted  himself  to  a  good 
cause.  He  impressed  us  as  a  high-aiming,  earnest, 
single-hearted  man.  Robert  and  I,  you  may  be  sure, 
did  all  we  could  to  make  him  happy  while  here,  and 
I  gave  him  such  directions  as  might  aid  him  in  his 
present  inquiries.  .  .  . 

The  following  letter  gives  glimpses  of  Newport  life 
and  of  Henry  Clay  :  — 

TO   HIS    BROTHER   HENRY. 

NEWPORT,  August  12, 1850. 

.  .  .  Every  spot  in  and  about  Newport  is  crammed 
with  visitors,  for  the  most  part  very  transient  ones. 
We  have  been  here  only  nine  days  and  feel  like  old 
residents.  Mr.  Clay  is  at  our  hotel  — much  observed, 
but  trying  to  keep  quiet.  Henry  Tuckerman,  of  New 
York,  whom  I  meet  daily,  has  made  many  kind  in- 
quiries after  you.  The  Nortons  have  a  cottage  near 
us,  and  the  two  Miss  Guilds  are  now  there.  The 
Wormleys  and  Bruens  have  cottages  hard  by,  and 
many  other  Boston  folks  whom  you  would  doubtless 
know,  but  I  do  not.  .  .  . 

Clay  holds  a  levee  every  day  for  an  hour  or  two  from 
twelve  o'clock,  and  they  say  on  these  occasions  takes 
the  opportunity  of  kissing  all  the  good-looking  girls 
that  present  themselves.  I  believe  a  majority  of  his 
visitors  are  women.  ...  I  have  seen  no  men  of 
science  amid  the  crowd. 

1  Julius  Froebel,  a  German  traveller,  nephew  of  the  founder  of  the 
kindergarten  system ;  in  search  of  lands  in  the  United  States  suitable 
for  German  emigrants. 


316  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1851. 

Yesterday  afternoon  Emma  and  I  had  a  delightful 
ramble  along  the  cliffs,  gathering  seaweed,  of  which 
the  variety  here  is  truly  wonderful.  .  .  .  What  su- 
perb sunsets  are  visible  here.  I  have  never  seen 
finer,  even  in  Virginia.  .  .  . 

The  following  are  comments  on  features  of  New 
England  geology :  — 

TO   HIS    BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  January  5,  1851. 
.  .  .  The  impressions  from  Greenfield  are  unques- 
tionably Lycopodites  untifolius,  or  a  form  generally 
the  same.  I  am  not  yet  prepared  to  say  whether 
these  impressions  are  all  of  one  fern  or  belong  to  two. 
But  some  of  them  I  cannot  distinguish  from  Lindley's 
and  Hutton's  figures  and  descriptions  of  Lye.  unc., 
which  occurs  in  the  Yorkshire  Oolite,  and  with  more 
delicate  foliage  in  Chesterfield  coal  rocks.  Take  the 
largest-leafed  specimens  from  Chesterfield,  and  the 
smallest  from  Springfield,  and  there  is  the  closest  re- 
semblance. The  fossils  left  me  by  Werth  are  truly 
superb.  They  are  Pecopteris,  etc.,  bearing  a  strong 
family  resemblance  to  those  of  the  Jura  in  Sternberg, 
and  Oolite  in  Lindley  and  Hutton,  but  excepting  a 
magnificent  frond  of  Pecopteris  WJiitbyensis  (the 
English  fossil),  a  foot  square,  they  will  require  new 
names.  When  you  are  next  in  Boston  I  will  get  you 
to  make  a  short  communication  on  these  subjects  to 
the  Natural  History  Society. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  February  24,  1851. 
.  .  .  Wirile  I  was  in  Richmond  the  Governor  ex- 
pressed to  me  a  strong  desire  to  have  a  beginning 
made  in  the  publication  of  my  final  Report.  He  has 
very  just  notions  as  to  the  scale  on  which  it  ought  to 
be  done,  and  says  that  he  will  be  glad,  in  his  next 
annual  message,  to  bring  before  the  Legislature  any 


JET.  46.]  REFORM  CONVENTION.  317 

scheme  I  may  suggest  for  engraving  and  publishing, 
and  for  revising  the  work  in  various  districts  of  the 
State.  He  is  now  employing  a  draftsman  to  compile 
the  materials  of  a  better  state  map  from  the  numerous 
surveys  of  railroads,  turnpikes  and  other  improve- 
ments. This  is  a  proper  beginning. 

We  passed  a  little  more  than  three  days  in  Rich- 
mond, and  were  very  kindly  entertained  at  Mr. 
Brown's.  The  Reform  Convention  is  in  session,  and 
has  entered  on  the  discussion  of  the  basis  of  represen-' 
tation  which  is  hereafter  to  be  established.  All  west 
of  the  Blue  Ridge  urge  the  white  basis  as  indispen- 
sable. The  eastern  members  insist  on  what  they 
call  the  mixed  basis,  in  which  every  five  blacks  are 
equivalent  to  two  white  men.  It  is  difficult  to  see 
how  the  parties  can  make  any  compromise,  and  it  is 
apprehended  by  some  that  the  Convention  will  adjourn 
without  settling  the  matter.  There  is  a  large  mass  of 
mediocrity  in  this  body,  but  I  believe  a  good  deal  of 
practical  sense  and  much  of  a  reforming  spirit.  .  .  . 

Have  I  told  you  before  of  the  excitement  which 
Johnson  created  at  Raleigh  by  a  lecture  before  the 
Legislature,  in  which  he  extolled  the  value  of  the  coal 
fields  and  other  mineral  resources  of  that  State  ? 
The  Legislature,  on  the  strength  of  these  representa- 
tions I  suppose,  has  organized  a  geological,  botani- 
cal, etc.,  survey,  appropriating  $5,000  per  annum  for 
the  purpose.  He  computes  the  number  of  cubic  yards 
of  coal  at  365,000,000!  by  taking  the  distance  be- 
tween the  two  most  remote  parts  where  coal  has  been 
found  and  multiplying  this  by  the  breadth  of  the 
sandstone  belt,  counting  the  coal  as  continuous  and 
four  feet  in  thickness  !  Is  not  this  a  bold  stroke  ? 
The  only  distinct  fossil  I  have  yet  made  out  in  this 
region  is  Equisetum  columnare,  one  of  the  character- 
istic forms  in  Chesterfield.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
these  rocks  are  of  about  the  same  age.  .  .  . 

In  a  former  letter  you  spoke  of  some  saurian  re- 
mains found  in  the  Mesozoic  of  Pennsylvania,  now  in 


318  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1851. 

Leidy's  hands.  The  little  conical  curved  tooth  which 
I  found  some  years  ago  in  the  sandstone  of  Chester- 
field was  at  the  time  broken  in  the  attempt  to  take  it 
out.  I  have  the  small  fragments.  Perhaps  a  section 
under  the  microscope  would  give  useful  information. 
I  remember  that  I  thought  it  most  like  a  tooth  in 
Brongniart,  from  the  Lias. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  8, 1851. 

I  am  now  holding  my  intermediate  examination. 
We  have  been  seven  hours  in  the  lecture-room,  and 
some  of  the  slow  ones  have  so  much  work  remaining 
that  I  fear  I  shall  not  be  released  for  an  hour  or  two 
longer.  .  .  . 

Have  you  seen  Maury's  paper  on  the  subject  of 
Winds,  recently  published  as  an  appendix  to  the 
Washington  Observations  ?  He  has  snatched  at  Far- 
aday's discovery  of  the  magnetism  of  oxygen  to  make 
it  the  basis  of  a  wild  dream  as  to  the  cause  of  spiral 
storms  or  currents  of  the  air.  I  cannot  imagine  why 
he  has  published  anything  so  unripe  as  this.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  June  2,  1851. 
.  .  .  What  you  say  of  the  Canadian  fossils  is  very 
remarkable.     Surely  we  have  not  yet  reached  the  low- 
est horizon  of  life.     I  cannot  believe  that  it  began  in 
forms  so  developed.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  June  23,  1851. 
.  .  .  Whatever  may  be  the  age  of  the  limestone  at 
Burlington,  Vt.,  which  in  my  notes  I  describe  as  look- 
ing like  a  Levant  rock,  I  cannot  believe  that  the 
Berkshire  limestone  is  of  that  age.  Indeed,  I  am  sure 
that  the  two  are  in  entirely  different  belts.  That  of 
the  Winooski  is  a  prolongation  of  the  belt  near  White- 
hall, which,  as  you  know,  is  much  to  the  west  of  the 
trend  of  the  Berkshire  belt.  The  latter  is  in  a  line 
with  the  limestone  of  Rutland  in  Vermont,  which  lies 
immediately  at  the  western  base  of  the  Green  Moun- 
tains. 


^ET.  46.]          WEATHER    OBSERVATIONS.  319 

I  feel  with  you,  my  dear  Henry,  the  importance  of 
our  being  able  to  renew  our  attention  systematically 
to  the  comparison  of  our  Palaeozoic  formations  in  order 
to  secure  justice  to  our  previous  labours,  and  to  make 
our  nomenclature  acceptable.  .  .  . 

FROM   HIS    BROTHER   HENRY. 

BOSTON,  March  13,  1851. 

.  .  .  Will  the  Smithsonian  Institute  do  anything 
truly  useful  through  the  telegraph  in  studying  the  laws 
of  our  weather  ?  What  a  noble  field,  what  a  chance  for 
some  one  placed,  we  will  say,  in  Philadelphia  or  New 
York,  at  one  of  the  great  ganglia  of  these  nervous 
chords,  to  work  out,  day  by  day,  the  wide  oscillations 
of  weather  and  all  the  atmospheric  conditions,  to  have 
a  newspaper  containing  only  the  telegraphic  news, 
and  a  department  devoted  to  weather,  with  stereo- 
typed map  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  on  which 
the  distribution  of  the  various  winds,  etc.,  say  at  noon, 
for  each  day,  might  in  four  hours'  time  be  given  to  the 
public.  This  will  be  done,  I  prophesy,  in  less  than 
seven  years.  .  .  . 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

SUNNY  HILL,  September  16,  1851.    ' 

...  I  believe  the  new  Harvard  professors  of  Latin, 
rhetoric  and  chemistry  have  entered  upon  their  duties. 
From  James  l  I  learn  that  the  students  are  greatly 
pleased,  because,  for  the  first  time,  they  are  shown 
some  chemical  experiments.  Last  year  they  com- 
mitted the  chemistry  to  memory  !  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  October  26, 1851. 
.  .  .  How  I  long,  my  dear  brother,  for  a  daily  com- 
munion with  you.  I  always  catch  from  you  fresh 
spirit  for  research,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  we  are 
both  greatly  benefited  by  the  stimulus  of  thought 
which  each  of  us  can  best  apply  to  the  other.  .  .  . 

1  James  Savage,  Jr. 


320  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1851. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  November  6, 1851. 
...  I  have  just  been  contriving  a  little  instrument 
which,  with  a  single  mirror,  gives  the  effect  of  Wheat- 
stone's  stereoscope.     By  and  by  I  will  send  you  an  ac- 
count of  it,  as  I  think  it  is  new  and  curious.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  November  17, 1851. 

...  I  believe  I  mentioned  in  my  last  that  Hackley 
of  Columbia  College,  N.  Y.,  paid  us  a  visit  some  time 
ago.  He  mentioned  to  me  that  Renwick  would  soon 
vacate  his  place,  and  he  made  some  remarks  that 
looked  as  if  he  had  been  thinking  of  me  for  the  situ- 
ation. The  institution  is  magnificently  endowed,  and 
there  is  talk  of  an  enlarged  plan.  At  present  the  pro- 
fessors are  better  paid  than  anywhere  else  north  of 
the  Potomac,  and  according  to  his  account,  have  light 
duties.  If  you  have  a  chance  in  New  York,  make 
some  inquiry  about  this.  .  .  . 

I  am  beginning  to  make  arrangements  for  the  Smith- 
sonian lectures.  I  shall  take  with  me  some  simple 
means  of  exhibiting  the  prominent  properties  of  all 
the  constituents  of  the  air.  Robert  and  I  have  con- 
structed a  very  nice  instrument  for  endosmose,  and 
one  for  burning  a  jet  of  atmospheric  air  in  hy- 
drogen. .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  December  26, 1851. 
...  I  feel  quite  troubled  on  account  of  your  per- 
plexity in  regard  to  help  in  your  survey,  and  most 
earnestly  do  I  wish  that  I  could  point  to  a  suitable 
assistant.  You  will  find  it  next  to  impossible,  I  think, 
to  find  any  one  person  uniting  all  the  qualifications 
you  desire.  But  I  would,  at  any  rate,  not  seek  for 
such  abroad.  ...  I  do  not  know  anything  personally 
of  Mr.  Brush,1  but  I  have  seen  some  chemical  analyses 
of  his  in  the  "  Journal  of  Science."  In  the  number 

1  George  J.  Brush,  formerly  Professor  of  Mineralogy  and  after- 
wards Director  of  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale  University. 


JErr.  47.]  KOSSUTH.  321 

for  November,  1850,  is  a  good  paper  on  American 
spodumene  by  "  George  J.  Brush,  of  Yale  University." 
This,  I  suppose,  is  the  same  person.  In  previous  vol- 
umes he  has  published  analyses  of  albite,  etc.  He 
is  no  doubt  fully  acquainted  with  chemistry,  general 
and  analytical,  as  well  as  with  mineralogy  and  goni- 
ometry,  and  has,  I  presume,  had  the  Yale  training  in 
geology.  I  suppose  you  especially  need  just  now 
one  who  has  skill  in  geological  drawing  and  such 
knowledge  of  structure  as  to  be  able  to  put  together 
the  materials  of  the  summer's  work.  .  .  . 

You  ask  what  is  thought  of  Kossuth's  cause  in  Vir- 
ginia. I  hear  but  little  of  it.  But  our  neighbours  at 
the  University  are  disposed  to  depreciate  him,  and  are 
entirely  opposed  to  his  advanced  policy.  Indeed,  this 
seems  to  be  the  prevailing  opinion  throughout  the 
State.  The  Whig  papers  are  decided  in  denouncing 
any  departure  from  the  neutral  policy  of  our  govern- 
ment ;  and  the  Democratic  papers,  although  they  ex- 
press a  stronger  sympathy  with  Kossuth's  objects, 
agree  with  the  others  in  sustaining  the  necessity  of  a 
neutral  course.  I  have  no  idea  that  he  will  obtain 
any  action  from  the  government  or  from  the  people 
which  will  compromise  this  country  in  European 
troubles.  Still,  I  think  his  presence  in  Washington 
will  create  a  powerful  impression.  How  can  it  be 
otherwise  ?  Is  he  not  a  sublime  man,  one  whose  facul- 
ties are  equal  to  the  sublimest  mission  that  mortal 
ever  undertook?  His  presence  will  do  our  country 
good,  and  not  harm,  as  some  apprehend.  But  the  in- 
terests of  liberty  will  be  best  advanced,  I  think,  by  an 
adherence  on  our  part  to  the  neutral  policy.  By  and 
by  when  we  are  stronger,  and  when  the  masses  of 
Europe  are  better  prepared  for  a  permanent  change, 
and  therefore  stronger  for  the  contest,  our  intervention 
joined  with  that  of  England  will  suffice  almost  peace- 
fully to  secure  the  right. 

What  a  curse  to  France  is  hero  worship.  How  art- 
fully does  the  usurper  in  his  proclamation  carry  his 


322  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1852. 

countrymen  back  to  the  institutions  of  government 
planned  by  the  first  consul.  But  can  it  be  that  the 
great  empire  of  France  will  tolerate  the  usurpation  ? 
The  army  in  Paris  may  for  a  time  repress  the  public 
indignation.  But  must  it  not  at  last  hurl  the  usurper 
from  the  presidency?  I  am  most  impatient  to  hear 
the  course  and  result  of  the  election.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  January  6,  1852. 

...  I  observe  that  Dr.  Kane,  of  the  Arctic  explora- 
tion, is  lecturing  in  the  Smithsonian  upon  the  history 
of  their  voyage  and  the  Arctic  phenomena,  and  I  am 
glad  he  succeeds  so  well,  for  I  have  much  respect  for 
his  manliness  and  generosity  of  character.  .  .  . 

As  far  as  I  can  learn  there  is  here  far  less  sympa- 
thy with  Kossuth's  cause,  and  more  decided  opposi- 
tion to  his  proposed  national  action  than  in  the  Middle 
or  Western  States.  This  is  greatly  due  to  the  prejudice 
created  by  the  prominence  of  the  abolitionists  in  New 
York  in  doing  him  honour,  but  it  is  also  the  natural 
result  of  that  conservatism  which  of  late  has  become 
the  strong  feeling  of  the  politicians  of  the  South,  a 
feeling  which  could  not  fail  to  spring  up  in  antago- 
nism to  the  aggressive  philanthropy  of  other  parts  of 
the  Union.  The  result  shows  how  deeply  these  feel- 
ings operate,  since  from  the  excitable  character  of  the 
South,  and  its  great  admiration  for  eloquence  and 
chivalrous  daring,  Kossuth  is  a  person  for  whom, 
under  other  circumstances,  an  unbounded  enthusiasm 
would  be  aroused.  As  it  is,  I  cannot  imagine  how 
any  one  who  reads  his  speeches  can  fail  to  do  rever- 
ence in  his  heart  to  the  truthful  and  magnetic  soul 
that  pours  out  its  prayer  for  sympathy,  and  pleads  for 
the  brotherhood  of  nations  in  language  so  touching  and 
sublime.  How  I  wish  to  see  and  hear  him.  Perhaps 
in  Washington  we  may  enjoy  that  opportunity.  .  .  . 

Early  in  January  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rogers  went  to 
Washington,  where  Mr.  Rogers  gave  before  the  Smith- 


Mr.  47.]  ESPY.  323 

sonian  Institution  a  course  of  four  lectures  on  "  Phases 
of  the  Atmosphere." 


TO  HIS    BROTHER    HENRY. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  5,  1852. 
...  I  have  come  to  just  the  same  conclusion  as  you 
in  regard  to  Espy's1  labours.  Some  weeks  ago  I  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  Mr.  Stanton,  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  desiring  my  opinion  of  his  reports 
as  to  their  practical  and  theoretical  value,  and  before 
replying  I  had  to  look  them  over  with  some  care.  It 
gave  me  real  pleasure  to  be  able  to  say  to  Mr.  Stanton 
that  they  contained  a  large  amount  of  meteorological 
data  skilfully  tabulated  so  as  to  present  to  the  eye  a 
number  of  important  partial  generalizations  ;  that  I 
believed  the  dynamical  theory  proposed  by  Mr.  Espy 
brought  to  light  a  cause  of  atmospheric  disturbances 
never  proposed  before,  and  which  probably  had  an 
important  agency  in  their  production ;  that  his  views 
were  thoroughly  philosophical,  and  that  whatever  vari- 
ety of  opinion  might  exist  as  to  his  theory  as  com- 
pared with  others,  Mr.  Espy  deserved  great  credit  for 
the  researches  which  he  had  embodied  in  the  Reports 
and  other  works,  which  were  a  really  precious  contri- 
bution to  meteorology.  I  really  think  that  Espy  has 
shown  more  power  of  philosophical  analysis  than 
either  Redfield  or  Reid.  It  is  surely  a  higher  aim, 
that  of  demonstrating  the  great  dynamic  cause  of 
storms,  etc.,  from  preestablished  physical  principles, 
than  merely  to  determine  the  lesser  inductions  regard- 
ing them,  such  as  their  rotary  direction,  etc.  I  think 
with  you  that  Espy's  views  must  be  taken  along  with 
the  rotary  doctrine,  or  perhaps  it  may  be  found  to 
explain  the  rotation.  It  is  a  very  difficult  subject, 
but  hereafter  I  am  determined  to  speak  out  in  behalf 
of  Espy's  merits  as  a  thinker  and  investigator.  I  hope 
they  may  continue  him  in  his  present  place.  The 
question  was  to  be  brought  up,  and  on  this  account 
Mr.  Stanton  wrote  me.  .  .  . 

1  James  P.  Espy,  author  of  Philosophy  of  Storms,  etc. 


324  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1852. 

EGBERT   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  14, 1852. 
.  .  .  We  have  seen  a  notice  of  a  meeting  of  some 
scientific  men  at  Albany,  connected  with  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  university  there,  but  have  learned  none  of 
the  details.  Agassiz,  Peirce,  Gould,  Hall,  Porter  and 
others  were  there,  and  were  spoken  of  as  intending  to 
take  part  in  its  organization.  .  .  . 

Indications  now  appear  in  the  correspondence  of 
the  brothers  that  James  was  in  failing  health.  On 
April  1,  1852,  William  wrote  to  Henry  concerning 
him,  but  expressed  no  special  anxiety,  although  he 
recommended  that  James  be  urged  to  take  an  ocean 
voyage.  A  month  later  a  change  for  the  worse  had 
occurred,  and  the  brothers  William,  Henry  and  Rob- 
ert began  to  feel  the  gravest  apprehensions. 

It  was  soon  discovered  that  Professor  James  Rogers 
was  suffering  from  Bright's  disease ;  and  he  died  on 
June  12,  1852,  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  age. 

WILMAM   TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  June  20,  1852. 
.  .  .  The  day  after  receiving  the  sad  news  from  you 
and  Robert,  I  wrote,  as  well  as  I  could,  to  Rachel, 
and  intended  writing  to  you,  but  I  had  not  the  power 
to  do  it.  My  mind  for  weeks  past  had  accustomed 
itself  to  the  contemplation  of  the  sad  result  which 
has  occurred,  and  the  news  of  our  dear  James's  depar- 
ture, terrible  as  it  was,  was  less  overwhelming  to  me 
than  I  could  have  supposed  it  would  be.  But  I  feel 
that  my  heart  can  never  forget  this  sorrow.  In  active 
occupation  with  books,  and  with  preparations  for  the 
closing  session,  I  endeavour  to  withdraw  my  thoughts 
from  the  sad  theme.  .  .  .  But  do  not  think,  my  dear 
Henry,  that  I  give  way  to  sorrow,  or  that  I  do  not 


JET.  47.]          JAMES  ELY  THE  ROGERS.  325 

feel  in  all  their  force  the  views  of  affectionate  duty 
suggested  in  yours  and  Robert's  letters.  .  .  . 

Those  who  have  followed  the  history  of  the  four 
brothers  thus  far  will  perhaps  have  been  sufficiently 
apprised  of  the  career  of  the  eldest,  James,  who  was 
now  deceased;  but  the  following  brief  summary  of 
the  facts  already  recorded  may  be  given  here. 

James  Blythe  Rogers,  the  eldest  of  the  four  bro- 
thers, was  born  in  Philadelphia,  on  February  11, 1802. 
He  was  educated  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  and  at  William 
and  Mary  College  in  Virginia.  He  studied  medicine, 
and  received  the  degree  of  M.  D.  in  Baltimore  in  1822. 
After  practising  medicine  for  a  time  in  Harford 
County,  Maryland,  he  was  chemist  to  a  firm  of  man- 
ufacturing chemists  in  Baltimore,  and  subsequently 
lecturer  on  chemistry  in  Washington  Medical  college, 
Baltimore.  He  was  later  professor  of  chemistry  for 
four  years  in  the  Cincinnati  College,  and  also  served 
as  an  assistant  to  his  brother  William,  then  State 
Geologist  of  Virginia,  upon  the  geological  survey  of 
that  State.  In  1840  he  became  a  permanent  resident 
of  Philadelphia,  serving  as  Professor  of  Chemistry, 
successively,  in  the  Philadelphia  Medical  Institute, 
the  Franklin  Institute,  and  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  last-mentioned  position  he  held  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  left  a  widow,  two  sons,  and  one 
daughter.  A  "  Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Character  of 
James  B.  Rogers,  M.  D.,"  by  Joseph  Carson,  M.  D., 
was  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1852.  A  good 
account  of  his  life  and  works  is  also  to  be  found  in  a 
pamphlet  entitled,  "  The  Brothers  Rogers,"  by  W.  S. 
W.  Ruschenberger,  M.  D.,  Philadelphia,  1885. 

The  vacancy  caused  in  the  faculty  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  by  the  death  of  Professor  James 


326  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1852. 

Rogers  was  filled  in  August  by  the  appointment  of 
his  brother,  Robert, 1  who  resigned  his  position  in  the 
University  of  Virginia  to  accept  the  vacant  chair  in 
Philadelphia. 

To  the  professorship  resigned  by  Robert  was  ap- 
pointed Professor  J.  Lawrence  Smith,  a  chemist  of 
distinction,  who  brought  to  the  University,  as  assist- 
ants in  his  private  researches,  Mr.  George  J.  Brush, 
now  Director  of  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale 
University,  and  Mr.  Ogden  W.  Rood,  now  Professor 
of  Physics  in  Columbia  College,  New  York. 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  October  24,  1852. 
.  .  .  Dr.  Smith  has  not  yet  got  fully  under  way 
with  his  duties.  His  assistant  arrived  some  days  ago. 
He  and  the  Dr.  and  his  wife  are  still  staying  with  us, 
but  will  probably,  to-morrow,  remove  to  their  own 
quarters.  Young  Brush  is  a  zealous  mineralogist  of 
the  Yale  school,  and  seems  to  be  familiar  with  all 
parts  of  chemical  analysis.  He  talks  a  great  deal  and 
very  admiringly  of  young  Silliman  and  Dana,  and  I 
find  that  he  supposes  New  Haven  to  be  the  great 
centre  of  American  science.  Dr.  Smith  is  evidently 
much  attached  to  the  same  persons  and  locality.  .  .  . 
I  think  he  is  an  independent  man,  and  I  see  that  he 
is  ambitious  to  advance  himself  by  actual  research. 
He  will,  I  am  sure,  be  open,  fair,  and  direct  in  all  his 
scientific  dealings.  .  .  .  He  has  yet  to  learn  that  with 
large  classes,  in  our  system,  he  will  be  compelled,  or 
at  least  expected  to  devote  just  as  much  time  to 
teaching  as  Robert  was  accustomed  to  give,  and  that 
he  cannot  have  much  leisure  for  his  own  researches. 
I  am  doing  what  I  can  to  direct  him  rightly  in  his 
plans.  .  .  . 

1  Robert  E.  Rogers  was  already  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, and  the  Franklin  Institute,  of  Pennsylvania. 


-ffir.47.]  THE   CHOLERA.  327 

It  grieves  me  to  hear  of  the  failure  of  that  good 
cheerful,  faithful  friend,  our  gray  horse.  How  strangely 
thoughtless  are  many  persons  of  this  most  precious  of 
servants !  .  .  . 

I  am  truly  concerned  on  account  of  Horner's  pre- 
carious health.  He  is  a  conscientious,  good  man,  sim- 
ple-hearted and  faithful  to  his  duties.  It  will  be 
much  easier  to  find  a  more  brilliant  lecturer  than  it 
will  be  to  find  as  honest  and  true  a  man. 

Our  classes  here  have  now  mounted  to  about  390, 
so  that  we  are  quite  certain  of  passing  the  400.  .  .  . 

The  year  1852  was  marked  by  a  recurrence  of  the 
cholera. 

FROM   PROFESSOR   S.    F.    BAIRD   TO   MRS.    ROGERS   AT    SUNNY 
HILL. 

CARLISLE,  July  23,  1852. 

MY  DEAR  MRS.  ROGERS,  —  I  write  to  you  for  the 
sake  of  greater  certainty  in  sending  my  letter  to 
the  Professor.  .  .  .  My  object  is  to  know  from  him  his 
views  as  to  the  propriety  of  postponing  the  Cleveland 
meeting  of  the  Association  in  case  the  cholera  should 
increase  to  any  extent.  There  have  already  been 
several  deaths  there,  and  no  decided  abatement  as 
yet.  I  have  written  to  the  committee  at  Cleveland, 
for  its  opinion,  but  in  the  mean  time  would  like  the 
Professor's  views. 

Even  if  the  real  danger  of  cholera  be  slight,  yet  the 
apprehension  may  keep  away  some  of  the  best  mem- 
bers. A  political  meeting  to  be  held  at  Columbus  on 
the  22d  of  August  has  been  postponed  on  this  ac- 
count. .  .  . 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  November  28,  1852. 
.  .  .  You  will  see  in  Saboni's  address  a  reference 
to  quite  an  important  discovery  of  Stokes,1  the  mathe- 
1  Sir  George  G.  Stokes. 


328  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.         [1852. 

matician  of  Cambridge.  He  finds  that  the  invisible 
rays  beyond  the  violet  are  converted  into  blue  light 
by  transmission  through  a  compound  solution  of  sul- 
phate of  quinine.  Have  you  not  noticed  the  peculiar 
blue  colour  of  the  upper  film  of  this  solution  viewed 
in  certain  directions  ?  I  have  been  to-day  examining 
the  alcoholic  solution  of  chlorophyll  formed  by  adding 
this  liquid  to  the  bruised  leaves  of  our  common  run- 
ning box.  When  you  look  obliquely  down  upon  it  in 
certain  lights,  the  liquid,  although  of  a  clear  and  in- 
tense green,  appears  reddish  brown  and  opaque,  and 
in  almost  every  light  the  upper  film  appears  of  this 
colour.  This  is  another  case  of  the  alteration  of  the 
refrangibility  of  the  rays  by  the  medium,  according 
to  Stokes.  I  find  the  red  and  the  yellow  colouring 
matter  of  the  autumnal  leaves  to  be  so  far  quite  un- 
altered. The  delicacy  of  the  former  as  a  test  for 
alkalies  is,  I  think,  very  remarkable,  and  the  reaction 
is  beautiful.  I  will  send  you  some  to  try.  .  .  . 

FKOM  HIS  BROTHER  HENRY. 

BOSTON,  December  16, 1852. 

.  .  .  Have  you  read  in  the  "  Journal  of  the  Geolo- 
gical Society  "  the  controversy  between  Sedgwick  and 
Murchison,  touching  Silurian  and  Cambrian  ?  I  think 
our  friend  Sedgwick  has  all  the  philosophy  and  the 
justice  on  his  side,  yet,  through  our  fault  of  procrasti- 
nation in  publishing,  he  has  allowed  Murchison  to 
encroach  on  his  whole  ground,  and  to  secure  a  sort  of 
title  by  mere  priority  of  occupancy  of  what  is  not  his. 
As  we  must  commit  ourselves  to  one  side  or  the  other, 
if  we  use  the  European  equivalent  nomenclature  at 
all,  we  ought  now  to  study  the  whole  matter  and  make 
up  our  decision.  I  wish  much  to  learn  your  views. 
Sedgwick's  beautiful  classification  and  nomenclature 
of  the  British  rocks  is  infinitely  better  in  harmony 
with  our  American  Palaeozoic  Geology  than  Mur- 
chison's.  He  calls  all  the  Palaeozoic  one  system,  and 


Mi.  48.]  GEOLOGY.  329 

terminates  the  Cambrian  with  the  Caradoc,  just  where 
we  would  draw  our  strongest  equivalent  line,  being  at 
the  top  of  our  Matinal  shales. 

Sedgwick's  Cambrian  series  takes  in  then  our 
Primal,  Auroral  and  Matinal  series ;  the  Silurian, 
etc.,  —  he  insists  on  restricting  it,  —  our  Levant,  Sur- 
gent,  Scalent  and  Pre-meridian ;  the  Devonian,  our 
Meridian,  Post-meridian,  Cadent,  Vergent  and  Po- 
nent.1  Certainly  on  this  side  the  Atlantic  the  forma- 
tions approximately  equivalent  to  the  Cambrian  and 
Silurian  are  as  much  separated  by  their  fossils  as  are 
the  Silurian  from  the  Devonian,  either  in  Europe  or 
here.  But  all  this  geographical  nomenclature  will 
pass  away  in  time.  The  ablest  geologists  are  feeling 
doubts  of  the  identification  of  strata,  across  wide 
spaces,  by  fossils. 

WILLIAM    TO   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  December  25,  1852. 

I  cannot  let  the  mail  set  off  on  its  journey  north- 
ward without  committing  to  it  a  word  of  Christmas 
greeting.  My  heart  longs  more  than  I  can  express  for 
the  coming  time  when  we  may  all  spend  together,  as 
in  our  childhood,  these  festival  days,  and  when  we 
shall  always  be  so  near  as  not  to  feel  the  sense  of  sep- 
aration. How  much  of  true  happiness  is  yet  in  store 
for  us,  my  dear  brother,  when  we  shall  thus  be  re- 
united. The  sad  thought  of  dear  James's  absence  from 
among  us  is  the  only  shadow  in  this  happy  prospec- 
tive. .  .  . 

From  what  I  hear,  I  suppose  that  Columbia  College 
may,  erelong,  be  extended  upon  the  plane  of  a  great 
university.  Merely  collegiate  establishments  do  not 
prosper  in  any  of  our  large  cities. 

The  reference  here  made  to  Columbia  College  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  Professor  Rogers  had  lately 
received  from  Dr.  King,  then  President  of  Columbia, 

1  For  a  note  on  this  nomenclature,  see  Appendix  to  vol.  ii. 


330  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.        [1853. 

a  circular  letter  relating  to  a  proposed  extension  of 
that  college  upon  university  lines. 

WILLIAM   TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  January  7,  1853. 
.  .  .  When  you  have  time  read  a  paper  in  the  De- 
cember number  of  "  Philosophical  Magazine  Supple- 
ment," by  Helmholtz,  on  the  "  Theory  of  Compound 
Colors."  It  is  the  continuation  of  a  critical  review 
of  Brewster's  analysis  of  the  spectrum.  Helmholtz 
proves  beyond  question  that  the  reduction  of  the  col- 
ours to  the  three,  blue,  yellow,  and  red,  cannot  be 
maintained.  In  a  word,  he  points  out  the  fallacies 
in  Brewster's  observations.  But  strangest  of  all,  he 
shows  that  blue  and  yellow,  when  pure  and  of  proper 
intensity,  form  not  green  but  white. 

I  send  you  the  means  of  making  this  experiment  at 
once.  Take  a  small  slip  of  thin  clear  glass  like  a 
microscope  slide.  Hold  it  erect 
upon  the  flat  surface  of  black 
paper  or  the  cover  of  a  book, 
place  the  blue  paper  behind  it 
at  B,  and  the  yellow  in  front  at 
Y,  then  look  obliquely  through 
the  glass,  and  by  a  little  trial  of 
position,  you  will  see  the  yellow 
superposed  on  the  blue  to  form 
a  pale  white  spot.  Looking  more  steeply,  and  thereby 
getting  a  fainter  blue  and  more  intense  yellow,  the 
spot  appears  palish  yellow.  But  in  no  case  do  the 
two  tints,  when  superposed,  produce  any  shade  of 
green.  This,  I  think,  a  capital  new  fact.  The  green 
formed  by  the  mixture  of  the  yellow  and  blue  pig- 
ments is  due  to  light  transmitted  from  some  little 
depth. 

Have  you  tried  Stokes's  experiment  with  the  solu- 
tion of  sulphate  quinine?  —  remember  to  add  a  few 
drops  of  SO3,  and  make  the  solution  very  dilute. 


2ET.  48.]  ERICSSON.  331 

Until  I  found  the  effect  of  the  SO3,  I  could  not  get 
any  striking  phenomenon.  .  .  . 

UNIVEKSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  January  18,  1853. 
...  I  regret  very  much  that  last  summer  I  was 
not  able  to  pause  in  New  York  to  see  one  of  the  work- 
ing engines  of  Ericsson's  new  construction.  How  ab- 
surd the  little  caloric  engine  !  But  is  not  his  a  superb 
triumph  ?  and  yet  how  simple  and  entirely  known  the 
principle.  I  am  waiting  impatiently  to  have  the  de- 
tails of  the  engine,  for  in  this  consists,  I  think,  all  the 
intellectual  merit  of  the  triumph. 

KICHMOND,  February  16,  1853. 

.  .  .  My  lectures  have  been  marvellously  successful. 
I  have  had  all  the  best  intelligence  and  refinement  of 
Richmond  to  hear  me,  and  such  has  been  the  interest 
taken  in  the  lectures  that  after  the  first,  which  was  a 
full  hour,  the  throng  has  been  so  great  that  half  an 
hour  before  the  appointed  time  of  beginning,  the  room 
has  been  completely  packed  with  people,  and  it  has 
been  necessary  to  stop  the  sale  of  tickets  and  close  the 
doors.  I  have  never  seen  so  interested  an  audience, 
and  I  have  been  really  touched  to  see  how  universally 
my  old  friends  and  acquaintances  here  have  turned 
out  to  bid  me  welcome.  Even  old  Mrs.  Wickham, 
Mrs.  Bruce,  old  Judge  Robertson,  and  such  have  come 
forward  to  greet  me.  .  .  .  Until  now  the  lectures  at 
the  Athenaeum  here  have  failed  to  pay  expenses,  and 
this  year  they  had  barely  paid  for  the  gas  and  the 
servant.  .  .  . 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  March  5,  1853. 

...  I  find  that  I  am  in  bad  luck  in  regard  to  my 
matters  of  original  thought,  for  in  a  recent  number  of 
"  Poggendorff,"  just  received,  I  see  a  long  article  on  ir- 
radiation, coming  very  close  to  my  results  and  expla- 
nations, although  these,  you  know,  have  been  familiar 
to  me  for  the  last  ten  years  at  least.  So  much  for 
tardiness  and  timidity  in  putting  into  print.  I  have 


332          THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA.       [1853. 

been  teaching  these  matters  in  my  lectures  here  for 
at  least  ten  years.  I  want  you  to  make  a  sketch  in 
pencil  of  the  appearance  of  a  star  or  distant  lamp, 
1st  for  each  eye  separately,  and  2d  as  seen  when 
both  are  open.  There  is  a  remarkable  difference  in 
the  appearance  as  perceived  by  different  persons,  and 
even  by  the  right  and  left  eyes  of  the  same  individual. 
I  wish  to  collect  a  considerable  number  of  specimens. 
I  think  this  spoke-like  irradiation  is  produced  by 
the  influence  of  certain  rays  from  the  edge  of  the  iris, 
which  is  thicker  and  wider  than  the  pupil,  and  there- 
fore makes  the  rays  stretch  farther  over  the  retina. 
In  this  and  some  other  points  I  am  not  anticipated  by 
the  German. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

FIKST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON. 

1853-1859. 

Removal  to  Boston.  —  Final  Effort  and  Failure  to  secure  Publication 
of  Geological  Report.  —  An  Address  at  Williams  College.  —  Henry's 
Marriage. — William's  Investigations  on  Binocular  Vision,  Sono- 
rous Flames,  Ozone,  etc.  —  Ill-health.  —  Lectures  in  the  Lowell  In- 
stitute. —  Removal  of  Henry  and  his  Family  to  Scotland.  —  William 
again  visits  Europe.  —  Dublin  Meeting  of  the  British  Association. 

—  A   Serious   Accident.  —  Kind   Friends   in    Norwich.  —  Politics. 

—  Henry  appointed  Regius  Professor  of  Natural  History  and  Geol- 
ogy in  the  University  of  Glasgow.  —  Elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society.  —  Illness  of  Theodore  Parker. 

FOR  several  years  Mr.  Rogers  had  greatly  desired  to 
be  relieved  of  the  duties  of  teaching  in  order  to  gain 
more  time  for  original  work.  He  had  also  ever  since 
boyhood  cherished  the  hope  of  working  some  day  side 
by  side  with  his  brother  Henry.  Working  on  year 
after  year  in  a  university  which  was  somewhat  remote 
and  apart,  he  had  come  to  yearn  for  the  stimulus  of 
town-life  and  a  more  scientific  atmosphere.  He  was 
now  nearing  his  fiftieth  year.  His  brother  Robert 
had  left  him  to  fill  an  important  professorship  in 
Philadelphia ;  family  affairs  in  Boston  made  his  resi- 
dence there  desirable ;  but  above  all  the  earnest  wish 
to  complete  and  publish  his  final  Report  on  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  Virginia,  already  too  often  postponed 
and  too  long  delayed,  finally  induced  him  to  resign  in 
the  spring  of  1853  the  professorship  which  he  had 


334  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1853. 

now  held  for  eighteen  years,  and  to  join  his  brother 
Henry  in  Boston.  This  important  step  was  not  taken 
without  many  forebodings.  From  the  income  of  his 
professorship,  which  had  been  lucrative,  he  had  by 
economy  accumulated  enough  to  yield  a  moderate 
income ;  but  for  the  rest  he  proposed  to  depend  chiefly 
upon  the  somewhat  precarious  proceeds  of  lectures 
and  expert  work.  The  future,  therefore,  was  by  no 
means  unclouded,  and  he  was  fully  alive  to  the  dan- 
ger of  renouncing  an  assured  professorship  for  pros- 
pects so  uncertain.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rogers  left  the 
University  of  Virginia  with  regret,  and  with  the 
utmost  respect  and  affection  for  that  noble  institution. 
As  long  as  he  lived  Mr.  Rogers  cherished,  as  one  of 
his  most  enduring  and  precious  memories,  the  recollec- 
tion of  the  years  which  he  had  spent  there ;  and  when 
in  the  next  decade  it  devolved  upon  him  to  found  and 
organize  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  in 
Boston,  the  model  which  he  always  had  in  mind  was 
the  University  of  Virginia. 

In  a  letter  dated  June  29,  1853,  Mr.  Rogers  writes 
to  his  brother  Henry :  "  My  successor  is  young  Mr. 
Smith,  the  mathematical  tutor,  and  a  favorite  pupil  of 
mine." 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   ROBERT. 

BOSTON,  November  30,  1853. 

.  .  .  Our  course  of  lectures  was  opened  night  be- 
fore last  by  an  address  from  Mr.  Winthrop.  The 
first  of  Professor  Chase's  lectures  on  Applied  Chem- 
istry will  be  given  next  Tuesday.  After  his  series 
has  been  completed,  there  may  be  others  before  I 
come  on,  that  is,  if  I  am  to  precede  Henry.  .  .  . 

On  Tuesday  evening,  besides  hearing  a  part  of 
Winthrop's  lecture,  I  dropped  in  to  a  meeting  of  the 


^r.49.]  A    VISIT  TO  RICHMOND.  335 

Academy,  where  for  an  hour  I  listened  to  Peirce.  Yes- 
terday evening  Mr.  Savage  entertained  "•  the  Club  " l 
at  No.  I,2  when  he  took  occasion  to  introduce  me  spe- 
cially to  all  the  old  gentlemen  present,  among  them 
Mr.  J.  A.  Lowell,  Josiah  Quincy,  etc.  I  had  a  very 
pleasant  time,  and  from  Mr.  Lowell's  amiable  bearing 
towards  me,  I  begin  to  have  some  hopes  of  a  course 
in  a  year  or  two. 

Early  in  January,  1854,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rogers  went 
to  Richmond  for  the  purpose  of  making  one  more 
attempt  to  secure  from  the  legislature  the  means  of 
publishing  the  final  Report  of  the  Geological  Survey 
of  Virginia. 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

KICHMOND,  February  11,  1854. 

I  know  not  why  I  have  so  long  delayed  writing  to 
you,  unless  it  has  been  my  daily  expectation  of  hearing 
something  of  importance  to  tell  you  in  regard  to  the 
Survey.  Yet  such  has  been  the  tardiness  of  the  legis- 
lature and  the  crowding  of  small  bills  on  the  Senate, 
that  the  matter  remains  as  at  the  beginning  of  the 
week.  The  bill  asks  for  $24,000,  leaving  the  special 
apportionment  for  revision  and  publication  in  my 
hands.  The  control  of  the  fiscal  part  of  the  Survey  is 
placed  jointly  in  the  hands  of  the  secretary  of  the  Com- 
monwealth (Wythe  Mumford)  and  me,  and  the  selec- 
tion of  assistants  is  given  to  me  alone.  My  salary  is 
marked  at  $1,200,  the  others  to  be  fixed  by  me  and  the 
secretary.  No  time  is  appointed  for  the  completion  of 
the  work.  Had  I  known  more  of  the  temper  of  the 
Senate  before  drawing  up  the  bill,  I  should  have  asked 
for  $30,000,  and  put  my  own  compensation  at  least  at 
$1,500.  But  any  amendment  will  now  add  greatly  to 
the  uncertainty  of  getting  the  bill  through,  and  I  think 
I  shall  not  urge  it,  unless  I  find  the  temper  of  the  two 
houses  more  friendly  than  it  is  likely  to  be.  In  the 

1  The  Wednesday  Evening  Club. 

2  Temple  Place. 


336  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1854. 

Senate  the  measure  will,  I  think,  meet  no  serious 
opposition,  but  in  the  Lower  House  it  may  give  rise 
to  a  contest.  Probably  I  may  be  called  on  to  give 
one  or  two  lectures  to  the  legislature  to  explain  the 
subject. 

My  numerous  friends  in  Richmond  seem  all  to  be 
much  interested  in  having  the  measure  passed,  and 
they  do  what  they  can  to  help  it  through.  If  it  can 
be  sent  down  from  the  Senate  early  in  the  week,  I 
think  it  is  likely  to  be  carried  through  the  Lower 
House  successfully. 

I  am  utterly  tired  of  waiting  upon  the  movements 
of  the  legislature.  The  lobby  working,  of  which  I 
see  a  good  deal  and  hear  more,  is  as  repugnant  to  my 
taste  as  to  my  sense  of  right,  and  I  avoid  even  the 
colour  of  it.  ... 

We  have  been  staying  since  Tuesday  at  my  friend 
Myers's,1  at  the  head  of  Government  Street,  near  the 
Powhatan  House,  where  we  have  every  comfort  and 
even  luxury.  .  .  . 

RICHMOND,  February  19, 1854. 

My  presence  here  for  ten  days  past  has  been  indis- 
pensable, for  such  has  been  the  pressure  of  local  bills, 
even  in  the  Senate,  that  without  my  daily  reminding 
my  friends  of  the  geological  bill,  it  would  not  have 
been  brought  up  out  of  place  as  it  has  been  this  morning. 
I  went  over  to  the  Capitol  about  noon,  and  as  I  en- 
tered the  senate  lobby,  heard  my  friend  Ambler  mak- 
ing a  very  earnest  speech  in  behalf  of  the  bill.  He  was 
followed  by  a  Williamsburg  man,  who  had,  I  fear, 
been  prompted  to  opposition  by  Saunders,  and  who, 
speaking  ignorantly,  made  an  appeal  which  I  feared 
would  defeat  the  measure ;  but  the  vote  was  trium- 
phant, being  35  to  7,  the  number  26  being  necessary 
to  pass  the  bill.  It  was  at  once  taken  over  to  the 
other  House,  where,  having  precedence,  it  will  prob- 
ably be  called  up  in  a  few  days.  I  now  hope  to  have 

1  Gustavus  Myers,  Esq. 


^T.  49.]  FAILURE   OF  THE  BILL.  337 

the  matter  finally  disposed  of  by  the  close  of  this 
week.  But  in  the  Lower  House  the  fate  of  any  meas- 
ure is  not  to  be  calculated.  .  .  .  My  chief  fear  is  that 
some  amendment,  prescribing  the  time  or  otherwise 
crippling  the  work,  will  be  attempted.  This  I  am  re- 
solved to  resist,  even  to  the  entire  defeat  of  the  bill. 
I  will  let  you  know  in  a  day  or  two  what  is  likely  to 
be  done,  or  has  been  done,  in  the  premises.  .  .  . 

I  am  glad  you  have  Lesquereux  1  with  you  in  Bos- 
ton. How  I  wish  I  could  see  his  drawings  and  gath- 
ering of  fossils  ! 

On  Friday  I  had  a  very  pleasant  excursion  with  my 
friend  Giles  among  the  quarries  on  the  other  side  of 
the  river,  extending  some  five  miles  up.  They  have 
been  opened  somewhat  extensively  by  the  Danville 
R.  R.,  and  display  very  finely  the  great  system  of 
joints  in  the  granitic  rock  of  the  belt.  Have  also 
been  prowling  about  in  the  ravines,  a  mile  or  two 
below  the  city,  where  I  have  found  grand  exposures 
of  the  Inf usory.  .  .  . 

In  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Rogers  and  his 
numerous  friends  in  the  legislature  and  in  Richmond, 
the  bill  failed  to  pass  the  House,  and  on  March  8, 
with  Mrs.  Rogers,  he  left  for  Boston.  Three  months 
had  been  spent  in  Richmond  in  a  futile  endeavor  to 
secure  provision  for  the  Report,  which  Mr.  Rogers 
so  ardently  desired  to  finish.  The  blow  was  a  heavy 
one,  but  he  bore  it  philosophically  and,  pausing  in 
Washington  on  his  way  northward,  wrote  the  follow- 
ing letter  to  the  librarian  of  the  state  library  in 
Richmond,  Va. :  — 

WASHINGTON,  March  9,  1854. 

.  .  .  The  hurry  of  preparation  yesterday  left  me  no 
time  for  making  out  the  list  of  books  which  I  promised 
to  send  you.     I  subjoin  a  list  of  such  as  now  occur 
1  Leo  Lesquereux,  Paleontologist  and  Botanist,  1806-1889. 


338  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1854. 

to  me,  all  of  them  of  standard  value  in  their  way.  It 
will  give  me  pleasure  at  any  time  when  in  Richmond 
or  the  Northern  cities  to  aid  you  in  the  enlargement 
of  the  state  library. 

Whewell's  Philosophy  of  the  Inductive  Sciences ; 
Whewell's  History  of  the  Inductive  Sciences;  Prin- 
ciples of  Mechanism,  by  Professor  Willis ;  Grant's 
History  of  Physical  Astronomy;  Keith  Johnston's 
Physical  Atlas  (edition  now  in  press  much  improved) ; 
Beckman's  History  of  Inventions  (new  edition,  by 
Francis  &  Griffith)  ;  Knapp's  Technology,  English 
edition  ;  Reid  on  Ventilation  ;  Gwilt's  Encyclopedia 
of  Architecture  ;  Pouillet's  Elements  de  Physique,  etc. 
(last  edition)  ;  Cours  Elementaire  de  Paleontologie 
et  Geologic,  par  A.  d'Orbigny ;  Geologic  Applique 
aux  Arts  et  1' Agriculture,  D'Orbigny  et  Gente ; 
Mantell's  Medals  of  Creation ;  Mantell's  Wonders 
of  Geology ;  Mantell's  Petrifactions  and  their  Teach- 
ings ;  De  la  Beche's  Geological  Observer ;  D'Archiac's 
Histoire  de  Geologie;  Dana's  Mineralogy,  8vo,  last 
edition  ;  Gray  and  Torrey's  Genera  of  North  American 
Plants  (in  process) ;  Gray's  Botanical  Text-Book ; 
Iconographic  Encyclopaedia.  [The  copy  of  the  letter 
ends  abruptly  here.] 

This  list,  doubtless  written  from  memory,  is  of  con- 
siderable value  as  an  indication  of  the  quality  of 
Mr.  Rogers's  reading  and  its  broad  and  philosophical 
tendency. 

In  March,  1854,  Professor  Henry  D.  Rogers  was 
married  in  Boston  to  Miss  Eli/a  S.  Lincoln,  a  half-sister 
of  his  brother  William's  wife.  He  continued  to  re- 
side in  Boston  until  his  removal  to  Scotland. 

Mr.  Rogers's  interest  in  the  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science  continued  unabated. 


JET.  49.]  WILLIAM  MWLVAINE. 


W.    B.    ROGERS   TO   DALLAS   BACHE. 

BOSTON,  April  2, 1854. 

...  I  think  that,  excepting1  one  or  two  points,  the 
constitution  of  our  Association  is  well  adapted  to  its  ob- 
jects, and  that  what  is  needed  is  not  so  much  a  change 
in  its  provisions  as  a  better  knowledge  among  the 
members  of  what  these  provisions  are,  and  a  more 
careful  adherence  to  them.  I  believe,  however,  that 
in  some  respects  our  organic  laws  may  be  improved, 
and  I  would  here  point  out  certain  amendments  which 
might  be  usefully  introduced.  .  .  . 

[The  First  and  Second  amendments  refer  to  the 
election  of  officers,  of  members,  etc.] 

Third.  Although  there  are,  doubtless,  cases  in 
which  the  advice  or  warning  of  the  Association  might 
exert  a  salutary  effect  on  public  or  even  private  enter- 
prises connected  with  science,  yet  as  there  must  always 
be  some  danger  of  giving  a  mistaken  direction  to  this 
influence,  it  would  seem  to  be  safest  and  wisest  to  ab- 
stain entirely  from  the  consideration  of  topics  not 
originating  in  or  strictly  belonging  to  the  business  of 
the  Society.  I  would,  therefore,  propose  that  the 
Association  adopt  a  rule,  as  part  of  its  organic  laws, 
precluding  all  action  in  the  way  of  recommendation 
or  otherwise,  either  of  instruments,  books,  institutions, 
researches,  or  other  scientific,  public  or  private  en- 
terprises. .  .  . 

TO   HIS    BROTHER   HEISTRY. 

SUNNY  HILL,  August  18,  1854. 

.  .  .  But  what  sad  news  to  us  is  that  of  the  death 
of  our  dear  good  friend  Mcllvaine !  No  one  out  of 
our  immediate  family  circle  could  be  more  regretted, 
for  no  one  else  has  been  more  truly  beloved.  My 
heart  aches  to  think  that  he  will  no  more  greet  us  with 
that  cordial  pressure  and  that  gentle  kindness  and 
true-hearted  sympathy  which  had  so  endeared  him  to 


340  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1854. 

us  all.  I  little  dreamed  a  few  weeks  ago,  when  E. 
and  I  enjoyed  the  treat  of  our  short  visit  to  them  at 
"  Greenbank,"  that  I  should  see  him  no  more.  .  .  . 

FROM    ROBERT   TO    HIS    BROTHERS. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Friday,  September  29,  1854. 

In  thinking  over  the  beautiful  experiments  and 
the  explanations  William  gave  me  of  the  strange 
movements  originating  out  of  Foucault's  experiments, 
I  was  led  the  other  day  to  try  one  which  I  would  like 
William  to  repeat. 

It  appears  to  me  to  embrace  the  phenomena  in  a 
single  form,  and  exhibit  the  forces  quite  clearly  to  the 
eye. 

Simply  hang  a  pretty  large  ball  to  a  cord  five  or 
six  feet  long,  twist  it  tightly,  and  in  this  state  start 
it  into  a  wide  vibration.  So  soon  as  the  ball  ac- 
quires a  little  speed  in  the  untwisting  of  the  cord  it 
will  deviate  from  its  original  line  of  vibration,  and 
will  even  go  beyond  a  quarter  of  a  circle  in  this 
deviation,  —  almost  a  half  circle,  —  and  then  when 
the  cord  returns  again  in  its  twist,  the  ball  rotates 
oppositely,  and  the  deviation  in  the  vibration  becomes 
apparent  in  the  opposite  direction.  What  is  pretty, 
too,  is,  just  when  the  ball  reaches  the  highest  point  of 
its  vibration  on  each  side,  that  the  point  at  which  it  is 
suspended  is  twitched  to  one  side,  exhibiting  the  force 
which  produces  the  deviation.  .  .  . 

In  April,  1855,  Mr.  Eogers  received  and  accepted 
an  invitation  from  James  Orton,  President  of  the 
Lyceum  of  Natural  History  of  Williams  College,  to 
address  that  body  in  aid  of  its  building  fund.  A  con- 
temporary circular  (issued  December  1,  1854)  bears 
the  name  of  S.  W.  Bowles  as  secretary.  The  address 
was  given  on  August  14,  1855,  as  will  later  appear. 

During  the  summer  Professor  Henry  Rogers,  leav- 
ing his  family  in  Massachusetts,  visited  Europe  in 


JET.  50.]        HENRY  VISITS  EDINBURGH.  341 

order  to  prepare  for  the  publication  by  the  Blackwoods 
of  Edinburgh  of  his  "  Final  Report  on  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Geological  Survey." 

TO   HIS    BROTHER   HENRY   IN   EDINBURGH. 

SUNNY  HILL,  August  12,  1855. 

MY  DEAR  HENRY,  .  .  .  E.  and  I  leave  early 
to-niorrow  morning  for  Worcester,  and  then  go  to 
Pittsfield  and  North  Adams  and  to  Williamstown, 
which,  if  possible,  I  must  reach  before  Tuesday  morn- 
ing, as  on  that  morning  at  nine  o'clock  I  give  my 
address.  I  am  glad  now  that  I  took  the  trouble  to 
write  it,  so  I  am  quite  free  from  that  kind  of  anxiety 
which  precedes  extempore  efforts.  On  Wednesday  I 
must  try  to  get  over  to  Providence,  but  shall  not  reach 
there  in  time  for  the  organization l  at  10  A.  M.,  which 
I  rather  regret.  .  .  . 

The  President,  after  removing  Reeder,2  seems  deter- 
mined upon  giving  Kansas  in  charge  to  some  one  who 
is  pledged  in  favour  of  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill. 
It  is,  I  think,  quite  doubtful  as  yet  which  party  is  to 
have  the  ascendant  in  the  Territory.  The  pro-slavery 
men  are  violent  and  unscrupulous,  and  the  others 
appear  to  be  timid.  I  fear  that  the  contest  will  be 
marked  by  bloodshed.  .  .  . 

Dr.  Warren  has  just  published  his  "  History  of  the 
Elm  on  the  Common,"  and  sent  us  each  a  copy  of  the 
book. 

.  .  .  The  publication  which  I  think  is  most  de- 
manded, and  especially  of  us,  is  a  manual  or  text- 
book of  American  Geology.  This  would  be  salable 
for  college  uses  and  that  extensively,  at  the  same  time 
that  it  would  be  very  acceptable  to  men  of  science 
here  and  abroad.  It  is,  I  think,  the  only  mode  in 
which  our  nomenclature  and  dynamics  and  other 

1  Of  the  meeting  of  the  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Sci- 
ence. 

2  Governor  of  Kansas. 


342  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1855. 

views,  either  common  to  us  or  severally  entertained, 
can  be  most  satisfactorily  and  generally  impressed.  .  .  . 

My  address  at  Williams  College  is,  I  suppose,  pass- 
ing through  the  press.  When  published  I  will  for- 
ward you  a  few  copies,  though  it  is  not  likely  to  have 
any  interest  for  friends  abroad.  I  take  occasion  in  it 
to  protest  against  the  mystical  notions  now  in  vogue 
with  some  of  the  naturalists  as  to  vital  forces,  ascrib- 
ing the  development  of  each  organism  to  a  kind  of 
plastic  idea,  about  as  rational  as  the  Archaeus  which 
Van  Helmont  made  to  preside  as  an  intelligent  spirit 
over  each  function. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ticknor  have  been  with  us  for  two 
days,  and  appeared  to  enjoy  the  visit  very  much. 
They  made  kind  inquiries  for  you.  The  growth  of 
the  new  Boston  public  library  is  far  more  rapid  than 
I  anticipated.  It  already  numbers  25,000  volumes, 
and  in  the  course  of  another  year  will  contain  a  very 
complete  collection  of  works  on  Physics,  Chemistry, 
etc.,  a  matter  of  no  small  interest  to  us. 

You  will  perhaps  see  by  the  papers  that  a  great  party 
is  now  organizing  under  the  name  of  Republican,  the 
uniting  principle  being  opposition  to  the  extension  of 
slavery,  either  by  state  or  federal  government.  This 
is  likely  to  unite  a  large  body  of  the  Whigs,  Free- 
soilers  and  liberal  Democrats,  and  will  probably  carry 
the  state  election.  Richard  Dana  is  one  of  the  lead- 
ers. .  .  . 

I  have  been  lately  applied  to  to  visit  the  North 
Carolina  coal  region  by  the  friend  of  Mr.  Frothing- 
ham,  who  talked  of  this  matter  last  spring.  If  the 
parties  will  agree  to  my  terms  and  time,  I  shall  prob- 
ably go  to  the  South  soon  after  returning  to  Bos- 
ton. .  .  . 

Little  Edith1  continues  to  improve.  She  knows 
my  whistle,  even  in  a  distant  part  of  the  house,  and 
has  become  quite  familiar  with  my  watch  and  eye- 
glass and  my  old  straw  hat. 

1  His  brother  Henry's  child. 


MT.  50.]     ADDRESS  A  T  WILLIAMS  COLLEGE.      343 

I  have  been  delighted  with  the  first  volume  of 
Brewster's  Life  of  Newton,  which  I  have  just  finished. 
It  contains  much  wise  criticism  and  many  passages  of 
warming  eloquence. 

The  Williamstown  address  was  delivered  on  the 
twentieth  anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  the  Lyceum 
of  Natural  History  of  Williams  College  and  on  the 
day  of  the  dedication  of  Jackson  Hall,  a  new  museum 
of  natural  history. 

This  address  contains  many  characteristic  passages, 
and  as  it  is  the  only  one  which  Mr.  Rogers  ever  wrote 
out  in  full  or  for  publication,  no  apology  is  needed  for 
making  the  following  lengthy  extracts :  — 

"  In  the  midst  of  scenery  whose  picturesque  beauties 
are  but  the  varied  repetition  of  the  landscape  which  in 
another  region  for  so  many  years  spread  its  quicken- 
ing charms  around  me,  I  have  the  privilege  of  renew- 
ing, though  but  for  an  hour,  that  living  intercourse 
of  speech  which  in  the  lecture-room  every  enthusiastic 
teacher  so  much  enjoys,  and  which  for  a  large  part  of 
my  life  has  been  an  almost  daily  recurring  pleasure. 

"  The  college  bell  that  for  nearly  twenty  years  sum- 
moned me  at  this  hour  to  my  pleasant  morning  task 
seems  even  now  with  its  inspiring  music  to  fill  the  air 
around  me.  Let  me  then  feel  as  if  I  were  but  obey- 
ing its  customary  call,  and  look  upon  you,  young 
gentlemen  of  the  Lyceum,  as  familiar  lecture-room 
friends,  that  my  heart  unrepressed  may  take  its  share 
in  whatever  I  may  say  to  quicken  your  love  of  natural 
science,  or  to  raise  your  thoughts  to  the  contemplation 
of  the  grandeur  and  harmony  of  the  universe.  .  .  . 

"As  the  relationship  and  interdependence  among 
the  different  departments  of  natural  science,  although 
recognized  in  principle,  is  often  practically  overlooked 
or  disregarded,  I  have  thought  that  I  might  not  un- 
profitably  employ  the  present  occasion  in  illustrating 


344  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1855. 

its  importance,  and  in  urging  upon  the  young  votaries 
of  science  whom  I  address  the  enlarged  and  catholic 
spirit  of  study  and  research  which,  in  the  present  ad- 
vanced state  of  science,  is  as  necessary  to  eminent 
success  in  any  one  department  as  it  is  essential  to 
form  the  character  of  the  philosophical  naturalist.  .  .  . 

"  Honour  to  the  memory  of  the  illustrious  Swede,1 
whose  vast  and  accurate  knowledge  in  each  of  the 
great  realms  of  Nature  afforded  the  materials  for  a 
systematic  structure  of  the  whole  of  natural  science, 
—  whose  comprehensive  genius  planned,  and  whose 
unfaltering  zeal  built  up  and  completed  its  sublime 
proportions.  And  honour,  too,  to  the  courageous, 
indefatigable  men  who,  catching  from  his  lips  or  his 
writings  the  inspiration  of  the  true  naturalist,  left  the 
calm  retreats  of  study  and  the  enjoyments  of  society, 
to  brave  the  toils  and  perils  of  distant  and  inhospita- 
ble lands,  in  quest  of  new  products  of  nature,  or  fresh 
materials  for  investigation.  What  isle  so  remote, 
what  mountain  so  rugged  or  lofty,  as  not  to  have  been 
the  scene  of  their  explorations  ?  What  sea  so  wide  or 
continent  so  vast  as  to  have  been  left  untraversed  by 
these  enthusiastic  adventurers  in  behalf  of  science  and 
humanity  ? 

"To  the  American  naturalist  there  is  a  romantic 
charm  connected  with  the  honoured  names  of  such  men 
as  Kalin  and  Catesby.  How  pleasantly  do  they  sug- 
gest the  wooded  mountains,  the  wide  savannahs,  the 
far-descending  rivers,  and  the  lakes  gleaming  in  sylvan 
solitudes,  where  these  earnest  lovers  of  nature'  gath- 
ered the  treasures  of  a  new  flora,  or  listened  in  happy 
surprise  to  the  musical  rhapsody  of  some  bird  unknown 
to  them  before.  Who  that  has  wandered  in  early 
summer  along  the  slopes  of  the  Blue  Ridge  or  the 
Alleghany,  or  the  moist  hillsides  of  New  England, 
where  the  openings  in  the  forest  and  the  rocky  glens, 
musical  with  tinkling  streams,  are  suffused  with  the 
delicate  blush  of  our  mountain  laurel ;  who  that  has 
entered  sanctuaries  like  these  has  not  in  his  heart 

1  Linnaeus. 


^T.  50.]     ADDRESS  A  T  WILLIAMS  COLLEGE.     345 

pronounced  with  loving  reverence  the  name  of  Kalm, 
to  whom  this  beautiful  plant  was  so  well  dedicated  ? 
What  naturalist,  on  a  summer  evening,  while  the 
moon  shines  doubtfully  athwart  the  almost  unmoving 
boughs,  can  listen  to  the  wood-notes  wild  of  the  mock- 
ing-bird without  recurring  to  the  memory  of  that 
early  lover  of  American  birds,  the  gentle,  enthusiastic 
Catesby?  .  .  . 

"  In  the  state  of  development  which  they  have  now 
reached,  each  of  the  great  departments  of  natural  his- 
tory is  brought  into  close  connection  with  the  purely 
physical  sciences ;  each  has  borrowed  from  them  valu- 
able methods  and  instruments  of  research,  and  each 
invokes  the  aid  of  physical  laws  and  forces  as  part  of 
the  machinery  by  which  the  phases  and  activities  of 
organic  beings  are  to  be  explained.  The  moment  we 
pass  from  the  purely  statical  view  of  living  creatures, 
and  regard  their  structure,  the  functions  of  their  sev- 
eral organs,  their  growth  and  all  the  complex  condi- 
tions which  mark  them  as  living  organisms,  we  are 
compelled  to  wide  inquiries  respecting  the  physical 
properties  and  transmutations  of  the  matter  of  which 
they  are  composed. 

"  To  illustrate  this  necessary  use  of  the  facts  and 
principles  of  physics  in  the  larger  generalizations  of 
the  naturalist,  let  me,  in  the  first  place,  refer  to  the 
long  mooted  question  of  the  distinction  between  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms. 

"  Linna3us  attempted  to  define  the  three  great  de- 
partments of  material  nature  by  saying  that  '  stones 
grow ;  vegetables  grow  and  live ;  animals  grow,  live 
and  feel,'  —  thus  making  the  capacity  to  feel,  the 
distinctive  mark  between  the  vegetable  and  the  animal 
organization.  But  while,  among  the  higher  animal 
tribes,  this  attribute  is  obvious  and  undoubted,  it 
cannot  be  affirmed  of  various  others  on  any  better 
authority  than  would  justify  our  ascribing  it  to  the 
leaves  of  the  sensitive  plant,  which  shrink  from  our 
rude  touch,  or  to  the  petals  of  the  numerous  tribes  of 
flowers  that  open  to  the  genial  sunshine,  and  fold 
themselves  together  at  the  approach  of  night. 


346  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1855. 

"  Again,  it  has  been  maintained  as  a  just  distinction 
between  animals  and  plants,  that  the  former  have  the 
power  of  motion,  while  the  latter  are  fixed.  But  the  mi- 
croscope and  chemistry  have  combined  to  show  that  this 
means  of  discrimination  is  unavailing.  For  they  have 
proved  that  the  motile  tissues  in  animals  are  composed 
of  the  same  substance  which  botanists  have  recognized 
as  existing  in  the  cells  of  all  plants,  and  that  this  sub- 
stance is  as  actively  motile  in  the  plant  as  in  the  ani- 
mal.1 And  they  have  further  shown  that  in  whatever 
quarter  of  the  growing  plant  the  vital  transformations 
are  most  rapid,  there  we  are  sure  to  find  this  material 
in  the  largest  proportion. 

"Among  the  thread-like,  confer  void  forms  which 
teem  in  our  fresh-water  lakes,  as  well  as  in  the  ocean, 
there  is  a  large  tribe  which  appears  scarcely  ever  to 
be  quiescent.  Their  slender,  jointed  filaments  may 
be  observed  waving  incessantly  backwards  and  for- 
wards, while  their  broken  fragments,  whose  marvel- 
lously rapid  growth  can  be  seen  as  we  are  gazing  on 
them  through  the  microscope,  keep  up  their  mysteri- 
ous alternating  movements  like  the  regular  oscillations 
of  the  beam  of  a  balance. 

*'  Some  of  the  plants  allied  to  these,  at  particular 
periods  of  their  growth,  liberate  from  their  bursting 
cells  myriads  of  moving  objects,  each  furnished  with 
its  little  living  oars  (cilia).  These  for  a  time  float 
and  swim  actively  through  the  water,  but  presently,  in 
the  process  of  their  development,  they  become  station- 
ary, germinate,  and  expand  into  forms  of  vegetation 
identical  with  that  from  which  they  have  originated. 
Others  again,  furnished  with  like  instruments  of  loco- 
motion, may  be  observed,  singly  or  in  clusters,  revolv- 
ing with  quick  movements  through  the  fluid,  and  fill- 
ing their  brief  plant-lives  with  restless,  animal-like 
activity. 

1  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  address  was  published  thirteen 
years  before  Professor  Huxley's  lecture  On  the  Physical  Basis  of 
Life. 


JEf.BO.']     ADDRESS  AT  WILLIAMS  COLLEGE,     347 

"But  lately  it  was  maintained  that  cellulose,  the 
chief  constituent  of  woody  fibre,  a  substance  nearly 
identical  with  starch,  as  well  as  starch  itself,  belonged 
distinctively  to  the  vegetable  world,  and  hence  a  sim- 
ple chemical  test  for  these  substances  was  regarded  as 
a  certain  means  of  making  the  required  discrimination. 
But  the  rapid  progress  of  research  has  proved  the  in- 
accuracy of  this  criterion  and,  strange  to  say,  has 
detected  the  hard  material  of  vegetable  cell  and  woody 
fibre  in  the  bodies  of  many  mollusks ;  and  stranger 
still,  has  discovered  both  it  and  starch  forming  part 
of  the  structure  of  the  human  brain. 

"  Nor  is  there  better  reason  for  assuming  the  pres- 
ence of  the  green  colouring  matter  chlorophyl  as  dis- 
tinctive of  plants,  for  but  lately  the  microscopic 
chemist  has  proved  that  it  is  this  very  substance  that 
gives  colour  to  the  fresh-water  polyp  whose  wonder- 
ful power  of  reparation  and  growth  early  claimed  for 
it  the  name  of  Hydra ;  and  that  the  same  pigment 
imparts  the  green  tint  to  many  other  undoubtedly 
animal  organisms. 

"  Thus  all  these  means  of  discrimination  fail.  How, 
then,  shall  we  trace  the  boundary  between  the  vege- 
table and  the  animal  world  ?  If  such  a  line  is  to  be 
drawn  at  all,  it  will  most  probably  be  determined  by 
the  opposite  relations  of  the  two  to  the  atmosphere. 
The  beautiful  antagonism  of  actions,  by  which  the 
chemical  changes  wrought  in  this  medium  by  one 
great  division  of  living  nature  are  reversed  by  the 
other,  would  in  this  case  become  the  test,  and  thus  a 
chemical  examination  of  the  air  or  aerated  water  in 
which  the  doubtful  being  dwells  would  be  our  best 
guide  in  deciding  upon  its  animal  or  vegetable  char- 
acter. .  .  . 

"But  it  may  be  said  that  this  question  remains  yet 
undecided,  or  it  may  not  unphilosophically  be  main- 
tained that  the  distinction  sought  for  has  no  real 
existence,  and  that  there  are  living  forms  which  are 
both  vegetable  and  animal  in  their  nature.  This  may 


348  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1855. 

be,  and  I  think  probably  is  true.  But  it  must  not 
therefore  be  concluded  that  these  united  inquiries  of 
the  naturalist  and  chemist  have  taught  us  no  interest- 
ing truths.  Let  him  who  questions  the  value  of  such 
investigations  consult  the  records  of  the  discoveries  in 
Natural  History  for  the  last  thirty  years ;  let  him 
follow  the  successive  steps  by  which  the  intimate 
structure  of  organized  materials  has  been  analyzed, 
mark  how  with  the  improving  power  of  the  micro- 
scope, nebulce  of  the  organic  world  have  one  after 
another  been  resolved,  and  as  he  views  the  teeming 
realms  of  life,  which  have  been  made  to  disclose  their 
vital  adaptations,  he  cannot  fail  to  recognize  in  them 
the  stellar  regions  of  the  naturalist,  not  less  wonder- 
ful in  the  harmonious  play  of  matter  and  of  forces 
than  are  the  tracts  of  ether  bright  with  countless 
worlds.  .  .  . 

"  The  living  being,  to  whatever  race  it  may  belong, 
and  however  constant  for  a  time  may  seem  its  struc- 
ture and  materials,  is  in  reality  but  an  aggregate  of 
ever-shifting  particles,  a  form  continually  wasting 
by  the  loss  of  parts  on  the  one  hand,  and  as  inces- 
santly replenished  by  the  stream  of  nutrient  matter 
which  is  appropriated  into  its  living  structure  on  the 
other. 

"  It  has  perhaps  its  most  striking  counterpart, 
among  the  phenomena  of  inanimate  nature,  in  that 
fleecy  cloud  which  meteorologists  describe  as  appar- 
ently resting  on  the  summit  of  a  mountain,  while  the 
moist  wind  in  which  it  had  its  origin,  and  of  which  it 
is  in  truth  a  part,  is  driving  furiously  on,  making 
each  watery  particle  visible  as  it  passes  the  cold 
mountain-top,  and  building  thus  an  enduring  form 
from  materials  ever  flitting  and  successive. 

"  What  dream  of  hoary  alchemist  bending  over  his 
crucible  in  long-deferred  but  still  unwearied  hope, 
or  seeking  with  rapt  eyes  to  read  the  mystic  messages 
of  the  stars  which  are  to  guide  to  the  golden  transmu- 
tation, what  migrations  of  being  imagined  by  oriental 


.Ex.  50.]    ADDRESS  AT  WILLIAMS  COLLEGE.     349 

seers,  is  stranger  or  more  sublime  than  these  cyclical 
transformations  and  phases  revealed  by  science  in  the 
familiar  materials  around  us  ? 

"  Look  upon  yonder  landscape,  clothed  with  living 
verdure,  —  the  grass  which,  inwrought  with  variegated 
flowers,  overspreads  lawns  and  valleys  and  rounded 
hillsides ;  the  forest  that,  with  interlacing  boughs 
and  leaves,  shelters  the  mountain  slopes,  or  arrays  its 
vast  battalions  on  the  plain  and  by  the  river  side,  or 
plants  its  stately  sentinels  in  the  rocky  defiles,  —  what 
are  these  but  fabrics  lately  wrought  by  Nature's  vital 
chemistry  from  the  invisible  and  inconstant  air  ? 
The  very  particles  which  now  glow  in  the  yellow  and 
purple  blossoms  of  the  meadow,  or  that  paint  the  re- 
freshing green  that  overspreads  the  whole,  have  been 
gathered  from  the  same  great,  ever-moving  aerial  sea, 
—  perchance  from  the  south  wind  that  bore  its  genial 
warmth  and  moisture  from  tropical  climes,  or  from 
the  northwester  that  came  fresh  from  the  realms  of 
frost,  breathing  of  snowy  mountains  and  ice-impris- 
oned seas. 

"  Look  again  upon  the  living  theatre  of  the  earth, 
and,  waving  the  wand  of  the  systematic  naturalist, 
marshal  the  procession  of  the  myriad  things  that 
creep  and  swim  and  fly,  or  move  with  rapid  bound  or 
stately  step,  filling  the  earth  and  sea  and  air  with  life 
and  music.  See  the  harmonious  play  of  forces  which 
weaves  the  structure  of  the  most  complicate  and  most 
simple  of  their  forms,  drawing  materials  from  the 
same  great  aerial  store,  not  for  the  most  part  directly, 
as  in  the  case  of  plants,  but  mediately  through  the 
already  elaborated  products  of  vegetable  activity. 
Guided  by  the  same  chemical  and  physical  laws,  see 
by  what  beautiful  adjustments  the  one  great  depart- 
ment of  living  Nature  continually  restores  to  the 
atmosphere  the  ingredients  which  the  other  has  with- 
drawn ;  thus  preserving  its  composition  unchanged, 
and  maintaining  in  happy  equipoise  the  balance  of 
organic  life. 


350  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1855. 

"  Let  it  not  be  said  that  these  grand  inductions  are 
the  work  of  mechanical,  chemical  and  philosophical 
inquiries,  and  are  foreign  to  the  classifications  and 
theories  of  the  naturalist.  They  are  among  those 
large  truths  which,  being  the  joint  result  of  research 
in  all  departments  of  physical  science,  are  the  common 
property  of  all;  as  the  wide  prospect  of  plain,  and 
valley,  and  river,  and  ocean,  beheld  from  some  lofty 
mountain-top,  greets  the  traveller  equally,  from  what- 
ever realm  he  may  have  approached,  and  by  whatever 
path  he  may  have  commenced  his  ascent.  Indeed,  to 
carry  on  this  comparison,  may  it  not  be  said,  that 
in  ascending  to  such  general  views,  all  paths  converge 
into  one,  which,  like  the  Alpine  roadways  of  modern 
engineering,  winding  from  spur  to  spur,  command 
successively  every  quarter  of  the  horizon  of  know- 
ledge, until  at  length  the  whole  circle  of  physical 
relationships  is  brought  into  a  single  view. 

"  Nor  can  the  naturalist  rest  satisfied  with  the  mere 
phenomena  of  these  alternately  vital  and  purely  phy- 
sical phases  of  the  atmosphere.  He  studies  the  chem- 
ical and  mechanical  conditions  under  which  they  take 
place,  and  endeavours,  by  the  rules  of  inductive  science, 
to  learn  something  of  the  peculiar  forces  by  which 
they  are  controlled.  .  .  . 

"  Looking  thus  at  arrangements  or  organization  as 
determining  the  properties  of  bodies,  who  can  fail 
to  admire  the  sublime  simplicity  of  the  mechanism 
through  which  the  Infinite  Father  fills  all  Nature  with 
variety  and  beauty  ?  .  .  . 

"  There  is  a  peculiarity  belonging  to  vital  forces,  as 
manifested  even  in  the  lowest  organizations,  which 
the  naturalist  marks  with  special  interest,  and  which 
must  ever  shape  the  laws  or  generalizations  he  may 
form  in  regard  to  the  agencies  of  life.  It  is  that  won- 
derful cycle  of  development  and  decay  which  presents 
itself  in  the  simple  isolated  cell  of  the  microscopic 
fungus,  as  in  the  form  of  the  marvellous  microcosm, 
man. 


Mr.  50.]     ADDRESS  AT  WILLIAMS  COLLEGE.     351 

"  That  all  living  forms,  in  their  first  visible  begin- 
nings, are  but  a  single  cell  of  almost  infinitesimal 
size,  modern  observations  have  concurred  to  demon- 
strate. Yet,  when  we  follow  their  vital  history, 
behold  by  what  diverging  lines  their  development 
proceeds,  and  at  what  various  stages  in  different  liv- 
ing forms  it  terminates !  We  have  before  us  two 
living  cells.  Let  us  watch  their  growth,  and  mark  in 
each  case  toward  what  form  of  organization  it  steadily 
proceeds,  to  find  at  length  the  consummation  of  its 
development.  The  one,  by  a  simple  process  of  divi- 
sion, gives  origin  successively  to  innumerable  separate 
cells,  repeating  the  original  form,  but  attaining  no 
higher  development ;  and  thus  it  covers  the  bare 
rock  with  a  film  of  living  green,  or  spreads  its  thin, 
crimson  veil  over  the  glittering  Alpine  snows.  The 
other,  seemingly  identical  with  this,  begins  its  career 
in  the  same  way ;  but  the  resulting  cells  adhere,  the 
development  goes  on  according  to  a  more  complex 
plan  forming  the  tissues  of  the  embryo  plant,  and  in 
due  time,  lo!  from  the  germinating  acorn  we  see 
arise  the  stately  leaf-crowned  oak. 

"In  vain  do  we  seek  to  explain  this  marvellous 
progress  and  determinateness  of  growth,  infinitely 
various  when  we  compare  the  different  living  tribes, 
and  yet  immutable  in  regard  to  each,  by  referring  them 
to  any  known  chemical  and  mechanical  laws.  Rather 
should  we  regard  them  as  the  characteristic  mani- 
festations of  other  and  quite  different  forces,  with 
which  each  elementary  form  of  organization  is  appro- 
priately endowed,  —  vital  forces,  that  operate  by  laws 
far  more  various  and  complex  than  are  displayed  in 
the  changes  of  inorganic  bodies.  Yet  it  is  important 
to  remember  that  these  vital  forces,  as  they  construct 
the  living  architecture  of  animal  or  plant,  are  ever 
accompanied  by  chemical  and  mechanical  effects ;  and 
that,  indeed,  a  sound  induction  not  only  recognizes 
them  as  belonging  to  the  series  of  truly  physical 
agencies,  but  views  them  as  the  dynamic  resultants 


352  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1855. 

due  to  the  combined  action  of  particles  organically 
grouped. 

"  In  avoiding  what  I  deem  the  error  of  ascribing 
the  laws  of  living  nature  to  the  purely  chemical  and 
mechanical  activities  of  matter,  let  us  take  care  that 
we  do  not  lose  ourselves  in  that  mysticism  which  im- 
putes intelligence  and  prescience  to  embryonic  cells 
and  organs,  which  with  Aristotle  looks  upon  the  inter- 
nal essence  of  plants  as  a  '  plastic  soul,'  or  with  Van 
Helmont  enthrones  in  each  organ  an  Archssus,  a  liv- 
ing spirit,  to  superintend  its  growth  and  direct  it  in 
the  performance  of  its  specific  tasks,  —  or  which  with 
some  eminent  modern  naturalists  represents  the  vital 
forces  (to  quote  the  words  of  the  most  distinguished  of 
them)  as  '  an  idea  which  guides  the  whole  process,'  as 
'an  essence  which  precedes  and  shapes  the  external 
existence,  as  intentions  precede  and  determine  acts.' l 

"  Humbly  yet  firmly  in  the  name  of  inductive  phi- 
losophy would  I  protest  against  such  theories,  however 
distinguished  the  authority  which  sustains  them.  If, 
because  there  is  manifested  in  the  development  of 
each  living  form  a  specific  end  and  a  fixed  plan  of 
progress,  we  are  to  assign  to  each  a  special  plastic 
idea  or  guiding  spirit,  have  we  not,  in  fact,  restored 
the  beautiful  but  dreamy  mythology  which  peopled  all 
nature  with  tutelary  divinities,  with  naiads  and  dryads 
and  spirits  of  the  air  and  sea,  and  of  the  moon  and 
sun  and  stars?  For  what  realm  of  material  being 
fails  to  give  us  evidence  of  a  fixed  plan,  and  prog- 
ress towards  a  determinate  end  ? 

"  How  beautiful  the  cyclical  succession  of  spring, 
summer,  autumn  and  winter  on  our  earth,  with  their 
varied  yet  regulated  alternation  of  day  and  night ! 
How  perfectly  fulfilled  the  plan  of  circulation  which 
carries  the  air  in  moving  columns  or  in  vast  eddies 
over  and  around  the  globe,  lifts  the  invisible  moisture 
from  the  sea,  pours  it  in  genial  rains  upon  the  land, 

1  Professor  Braun's  "  Das  Individuum  der  Pflanze,"  etc.,  translated 
by  C.  F.  Stone,  Silliman's  Journal,  May,  1855. 


JET.  50.]    ADDRESS  AT  WILLIAMS  COLLEGE.     353 

then  conducts  it  in  countless  rills  into  the  river  chan- 
nels, and  to  complete  the  round  of  its  beneficent  activ- 
ity again  restores  it  to  the  sea  ! 

"  But  shall  we  therefore  claim  for  the  earth  a  spe- 
cial tutelary  spirit,  a  self-directing  intelligence  that 
.yEolus-like  sends  forth  the  winds  on  errands  to  the 
four  quarters  of  the  globe,  —  that  spins  it  on  its  axis, 
poises  that  axis  in  the  precise  angle  at  which  it  is  in- 
clined, and  wheels  the  revolving  sphere  in  its  grand 
annual  path  around  the  heavens  ?  Again,  how  perfect 
the  adjustment  of  forces  and  motions  which  carries 
each  planet  of  our  system  in  its  great  elliptic  road 
around  the  sun,  varying  every  instant  in  the  speed 
and  direction  of  its  progress,  and  yet  with  unerring 
certainty  fulfilling  the  plan  of  its  orbital  revolution ; 
and  how  marvellously  combined  the  mutual  activities 
of  these  spheres,  developing  by  slowly  progressive 
change  the  cyclical  phases  of  the  system,  and  yet 
securing  this  '  sublime  pendulum  of  eternity '  within 
safe  limits  in  its  oscillations.  And  must  we,  as  we 
view  these  marks  of  profound  purpose,  these  develop- 
ments of  plan,  ask  for  each  revolving  world  a  presid- 
ing spirit,  an  idea  in  action ;  or  shall  we  not  rather  in 
these  and  all  the  other  phenomena  of  nature,  living  as 
well  as  inorganic,  recognize  the  infinite  Deity  oper- 
ating through  the  medium  of  mechanical,  chemical, 
and  vital  forces,  and  with  unerring  wisdom  adjusting 
them  in  ceaseless  and  harmonious  activity  to  his  own 
beneficent  ends  ? 

"  In  what  I  have  now  presented  I  have  proposed  to 
illustrate  and  to  urge  the  importance  of  connecting 
with  the  special  study  of  any  one  or  more  departments 
of  natural  history,  a  liberal  knowledge  of  the  various 
collateral  branches  of  physical  science.  But  I  would 
not  be  understood  as  failing  in  earnest  reverence  for 
the  labours  of  even  the  humblest  collector  of  the  ob- 
jects of  natural  history,  much  less  for  those  of  the 
systematic  naturalist,  who  devotes  to  them  a  closer 
examination,  and  classifies  them  according  to  estab- 


354  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1855. 

lished  methods.  To  the  former  the  world  is  indebted 
in  a  large  measure  for  the  materials  out  of  which  the 
science  has  been  constructed,  —  the  museums  and  cab- 
inets which  are  indispensable  for  wide  comparisons 
and  effective  research.  .  .  . 

"  If,  then,  we  cannot  doubt  the  practical  benefits  to 
science  and  the  still  nobler  spiritual  utilities  of  these 
systematic  collections  of  natural  objects,  these  beauti- 
ful epitomes  of  the  vast  volume  of  mineral  and  organic 
nature,  with  what  cordial  gratulations  should  we  wel- 
come every  effort  to  establish  them,  and  with  what 
hearty  thanks  should  we  refer  to  the  noble  liberality 
of  those  who  devote  either  time  or  means  to  their  pro- 
motion. .  .  . 

"  The  love  of  nature  is  spontaneous  in  every  human 
soul.  Ingenuous  children,  if  left  to  the  guidance  of 
their  instinct  for  knowledge,  early  display  the  curious 
observation,  the  spirit  of  experiment,  the  disposition 
to  compare  object  with  object,  which  form  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  naturalist  and  physical  philosopher. 
And  they  unite  with  these  in  a  large  degree  the  aes- 
thetic element  of  the  love  of  the  beautiful,  whether  in 
color,  or  form,  or  sound,  or  motion.  It  is  not  then 
from  the  rareness  of  an  inherent  love  for  such  pur- 
suits that  we  find  so  few  persons  who,  after  reaching 
maturity,  feel  a  strong  impulse  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  natural  sciences. 

"  The  studies  of  the  school,  occupying  the  child  with 
widely  different  though  indispensable  tasks,  have  until 
within  a  few  years  failed  to  provide  the  young  mind 
thirsting  for  a  knowledge  of  nature  with  any  opportu- 
nity of  useful  communion  with  her  works.  But  thanks 
to  the  wiser  views  of  our  contemporaries,  the  doors  of 
the  academy  and  the  high  school  are  thrown  open  to 
admit  the  odorous  breath  of  flowers  and  the  melody 
of  birds,  and  the  free  air  and  sunshine  of  the  teem- 
ing, vocal,  beautiful  world,  and  it  is  found  that  the 
clear,  refreshing  atmosphere,  instead  of  dwarfing  the 
plants  of  classical  and  mathematical  learning,  only 


^T.  50.]    ADDRESS  AT  WILLIAMS  COLLEGE.     355 

nourishes  them  to  a  healthier  and  more  vigorous  de- 
velopment. .  .  . 

"  Surely  conquests  such  as  these  are  better  worthy 
the  ambition  of  educated  men,  and  should  command  a 
higher  meed  of  fame  than  all  the  triumphs  of  valour 
and  endurance  that  were  ever  blazoned  on  the  torn 
banner  of  a  hundred  martial  fields.  And  surely,  gen- 
tlemen, to  come  nearer  home,  should  any  of  us  extend 
our  peaceful  march  of  scientific  inquiry  beyond  the 
latitude  of  49°  on  the  one  hand,  or,  taking  to  the  water, 
invade  the  coral  isles  of  the  Pacific,  or  possess  our- 
selves of  Mexican  territories  of  science,  or  carry  our 
bloodless  arms  into  the  tempting  Archipelago,  which, 
as  a  chain  of  pearls,  stretches  to  unite  our  northern 
and  southern  continents  on  the  Atlantic  side,  our  ad- 
ditions to  the  area  of  truth  would  be  an  annexation l 
approved  and  honoured  by  all  parties.  .  .  . 

"  But  it  is  not  through  the  allurements  of  ambi- 
tion, even  of  that  noble  kind  which  aims  at  enlarging 
the  boundaries  of  knowledge,  that  the  cultivators  of 
natural  science  are  led  to  the  purest  enjoyment  and  the 
truest  success  in  their  pursuits.  A  higher,  more  spir- 
itual sensibility  must  nourish  their  enthusiasm.  The 
love  of  truth  for  its  own  sake,  the  power  of  deriving 
exquisite  satisfaction,  not  only  from  the  discovery  of 
new  relations  among  objects,  but  from  contemplating 
them  in  the  light  of  known  facts  as  subordinated  to 
harmonies  and  laws  ;  a  loving  appreciation  of  beauty 
in  external  characters,  and  of  that  subtler  beauty  of 
structure  and  affinities,  akin  to  the  most  delicate  per- 
ceptions of  the  artist  and  poet,  but  which  discloses 
itself  only  to  the  penetrating  eye  of  the  naturalist,  — 
such  are  some  of  the  impulses  and  tastes  that  qualify 
us  for  enjoying  the  pursuits  of  natural  history,  and 
for  giving  them  their  highest  usefulness. 

"  In  speaking  of  the  delights  of  knowledge  as  com- 
pared with  other  pleasures,  Lord  Bacon  has  eloquently 
said :  '  In  all  other  pleasures  there  is  satiety,  but  of 
1  An  allusion  to  the  politics  of  the  time,  —  the  annexation  of  Texas. 


356  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1855. 

knowledge  there  is  no  satiety,  but  satisfaction  and 
appetite  are  perpetually  interchangeable.'  Surely  of 
no  kind  of  knowledge  can  this  be  more  truly  said  than 
of  that  which  unfolds  to  us  the  characters,  structure 
and  mutual  dependences  of  the  endless  variety  of  or- 
ganic and  inorganic  objects  with  which  natural  science 
has  to  deal. 

"  And  it  should  be  remembered  that  this  pure  and 
ever-recurring  satisfaction  is  not  merely  the  privilege 
of  the  few  who  possess  great  collections  of  specimens, 
libraries  for  reference,  and  all  the  refined  means  for 
observation  and  research,  but  is  accessible  to  the  hum- 
blest observer  who  pursues  his  inquiries  in  the  ardent, 
truth-loving  spirit  of  the  genuine  naturalist.  It  needs 
but  to  stir  the  waters  of  the  great  teeming  tropical  sea 
to  make  them  give  forth  their  latent  rays,  whether 
in  the  silvery  flashes  marking  the  wake  of  some  huge 
ocean  steamer,  or  in  the  drops  of  liquid  light  that 
fall  from  the  lifted  oar;  whether  in  the  long  line 
of  flame  that  reveals  the  breaker's  advancing  crest,  or 
in  the  luminous  footprints  left  by  the  traveller  on  the 
moistened  beach. 

"  It  was  once  the  fashion  with  poets  to  decry  the 
growth  of  positive  science  as  unfriendly  to  poetical 
and  spiritual  conceptions  of  the  material  world,  and 
to  lament,  although  we  may  trust  only  for  the  verse's 
sake,  '  the  lovely  views '  which  have  been  forced  to 
'  yield  their  place  to '  what  they  please  to  call  '  cold 
material  laws.'  But,  thanks  to  a  juster  knowledge  of 
the  spirit,  objects  and  results  of  physical  inquiries, 
now  generally  diffused  among  scholars,  such  com- 
plaints are  no  longer  likely  to  find  sympathy  with 
them.  From  the  known  laws  of  the  intellect,  what 
more  certain  conclusion  can  be  drawn,  than  that 
thought  becomes  exalted  and  suggestion  quickened  in 
proportion  as  they  embrace  a  wider  and  more  varied 
field  of  objects  and  relations?  Who  that,  gazing  on 
the  vault  of  the  sky,  thinks  of  the  innumerable  multi- 
tude of  worlds  which  the  sure  demonstrations  of 


^Ex.  50.]    ADDRESS  AT  WILLIAMS  COLLEGE.      357 

astronomy  there  point  out  to  him, — measures  in  imagi- 
nation their  dimensions  and  the  vast  distances  which 
separate  them,  —  follows  the  planets  in  their  stately 
march,  and  watches  the  whole  solar  system,  as  like  a 
majestic  fleet  of  argosies  it  moves  sublimely  on  its 
voyage  of  circumnavigation  among  the  stars,  —  and 
while  witnessing  in  thought  this  grandest  of  nature's 
spectacles,  reflects  on  the  profound  adjustment  of 
forces  and  motions  by  which  these  results  are  secured, 
—  who  thus  looking  and  reflecting  can  see  in  the  ma- 
terial laws  which  control  and  harmonize  this  universe, 
aught  lower  or  less  spiritual  than  the  thought  of  Infi- 
nite Wisdom  and  the  handiwork  of  Infinite  Power? 
Surely  such  a  meditative  gazer  on  the  skies  must  feel 
in  his  soul  the  inspiration  of  a  far  nobler  poetry  than 
ever  charmed  the  reveries  of  him 

"  '  To  whose  passive  ken 
Those  mighty  spheres  that  gem  infinity 
Are  only  specks  of  tinsel  fixed  in  heaven 
To  light  the  midnights  of  his  native  town.' " 

"  And  what  is  true  of  astronomy  is  not  less  true  of 
even  the  obscurest  walks  of  natural  history.  For  it  is 
less  in  the  magnitude  and  distance  of  objects  than  in 
their  mutual  activities,  their  harmonious  arrangements, 
and  their  adaptations  to  wise  and  beneficent  ends,  that 
material  phenomena  become  imbued  with  a  spiritual 
and  poetical  significance.  Let  us  then  rejoice  that  in 
our  scientific  communings  with  living  and  inanimate 
things  we  are  not  only  able  to  catch  sweet  notes  from 
Apollo's  lyre,  but  to  gather  into  our  souls  the  deeper 
harmonies  which  are  felt  to  be  the  echoes  of  voices 
from  the  skies ;  let  us  indeed  believe  that 

" '  Nature  hath  her  hoarded  poetry 
And  her  hidden  spells,  and  he 
Who  is  familiar  with  her  mysteries  is  even  as  one 
Who  by  some  secret  charm  of  soul  or  eye 
In  every  clime  beneath  the  smiling  sun 
Sees  where  the  springs  of  living  waters  lie.'  " 


358  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1855. 


TO   HIS  BROTHER  HENRY. 

SUNNY  HILL,  October  9, 1855. 

There  are  now  four  organized  political  parties  in 
Massachusetts,  viz. :  Democrats,  Whigs,  Americans 
and  Republicans.  The  last  is  a  fusion  of  all,  which 
holds  the  non-extension  of  slavery  by  the  National 
Government  as  its  polar  principle,  and  proposes  to 
ignore  all  differences  on  other  points.  Its  candidate 
is  Rockwell,  the  former  United  States  Senator,  a  lead- 
ing Whig,  but  now  disowned  by  the  Whigs  proper. 
The  latter  have  had  a  meeting,  at  which  George 
Hillard  made  quite  an  effective  speech.  My  impres- 
sion is  that  the  Republicans  will  succeed. 

The  Natural  History  Society,  I  am  told,  think  of 
sending  their  working-man,  Samuels,  to  California,  to 
collect  birds  and  other  objects  for  the  museum.  .  .  . 

I  have  never  seen  Eliza  in  better  health,  and  the 
dear  little  Edith  grows  more  winning  daily.  As  I 
look  at  her  gentle,  thoughtful  face,  the  traces  of  her 
father  impress  me  with  a  tenderness  that  brings  moist- 
ure to  my  eyes. 

In  the  autumn  of  1855  overtures  were  made  to 
Henry  concerning  the  professorship  in  the  University 
of  Glasgow,  to  which  he  was  later  appointed. 

MR.   ROGERS   TO  HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

BOSTON,  November  20,  1855. 

The  Academy  is  yet  quite  asleep.  Wyman  is  mak- 
ing good  experiments  on  the  impressions  made  by  rain- 
drops on  firmly  prepared  clay.  Some  of  the  slabs 
thus  marked  are  very  instructive.  In  connection  with 
this,  I  have  been  computing  the  terminal  velocities  of 
drops,  ranging  from  1-10  to  1-2000  inch  in  diameter, 
using  one  of  Button's  formulae  of  resistance.  I  hope 


Mn.  51.]  PUBLIC  LECTURES.  359 

to  get  up  an  arrangement  for  determining  the  weight, 
and  then  the  actual  diameters  of  raindrops  of  various 
sizes.1  .  .  . 

You  will  see  in  "  Silliman "  that  my  inquiries  on 
binocular  vision  have  extended.  There  will  be  one 
more  section  after  that  in  the  January  number,  which 
I  have  just  sent  to  New  Haven.  When  completed,  I 
want  some  of  those  who  have  studied  the  matter  in 
Scotland  or  England  to  go  over  the  observations  crit- 
ically, for  I  believe  they  will  find  much  that  is  new 
and  important  in  them.  I  have  just  hit  on  a  beauti- 
ful geometrical  law  for  certain  cases.  The  binocular 
resultants  of  a  right  line  and  circular  arc  are  always  a 
conic  section.  I  will  send  you  the  drawings  and  ex- 
planation, which,  perhaps,  you  may  show  to  some 
friend  in  Edinburgh,  and  have  inserted  in  the  "  Quar- 
terly Journal." 

I  shall  keep  on  with  the  gathering  of  materials  for 
our  geological  text-book,  for  I  am  satisfied  that  there 
is  nothing  we  could  do  that  would  tell  better  in  every 
way.  .  .  . 

Did  you  see  one  of  Professor  Council's  pretty  hy- 
grometers? .  .  .  God  bless  and  keep  you,  my  own 
dear  brother.  Day  and  night  my  thoughts  are  with 
you ;  I  form  many  a  fancy  picture  of  you  and  the 
circle  around  you.  My  heart  warms  to  the  good 
friends  that  have  cheered  you  by  their  welcome  in 
kind  Scotland.  .  .  . 

TO   HIS  BROTHER  ROBERT. 

BOSTON,  November  21,  1855. 

.  .  .  On  Monday  night  next  I  give  the  first  of  my 
two  lectures  in  the  Tremont  Temple.2  I  understand 
all  the  tickets  of  the  course,  about  twenty-five  hun- 
dred, have  been  taken.  Last  Monday  there  must 
have  been  at  least  that  many  persons  present  to  hear 
a  lecture  from  an  eminent  pulpit  orator  and  lecturer, 

1  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  vol.  v.  pp.  266, 282. 

2  Lectures  before  the  Mercantile  Library  Association. 


360  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1855. 

Starr  King.  His  subject  was  "  Substance  and  Show." 
I  shall  talk  of  Physical  Forces.  .  .  . 

Only  think,  Judge  Gushing  has  commenced  print- 
ing his  book,1  having  made  quite  a  favourable  arrange- 
ment with  Little  &  Brown.  He  appears  quite  revived 
by  the  thought  of  having  finished  his  ten  years'  task, 
which  few  of  us  thought  he  would  live  to  finish.  .  .  . 

How  is  our  dear  little  friend  Beppo?  Poor  little 
fellow.  E.  and  I  can  hardly  believe  that  he  is  no 
longer  accompanied  by  the  beautiful,  loving  Zeo.2  His 
image  rises  always  in  thinking  of  the  dear  home  in 
Girard  Street.  .  .  . 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

BOSTON,  November  30,  1855. 

.  .  .  On  Monday  night  I  gave  my  first  lecture  in 
the  Tremont  Temple.  It  was  a  rainy  night,  but  still 
there  were  about  two  thousand  persons  present.  I 
found  it  an  easier  matter  than  I  anticipated  to  keep 
up  the  interest  of  this  crowd,  although  the  subject  was 
not  of  the  showy  kind.  From  indications  at  the  time 
and  what  I  have  since  heard,  I  believe  I  was  quite 
successful.  But  how  very  elementary  all  such  lectures 
must  be  to  be  at  all  intelligible !  On  Wednesday  next 
I  give  a  lecture  at  Lawrence  on  Geology.  .  .  . 

BOSTON,  December  4,  1855. 

...  I  have  this  morning  closed  and  directed  your 
box,  and  put  it  in  the  hands  of  the  expressman.  .  .  . 
Longfellow's  last  poem,  Rush  on  the  Voice,  and  other 
books  will  remind  you  of  home,  but  perhaps  not  so 
much  as  the  copies  of  my  lecture  at  Williams  College, 
of  which  I  wish  you  to  present  one  to  Brewster,  one 
to  Balfour ;  make  what  other  distribution  you  please. 
I  should  like  to  know  what  the  naturalists  say  of  my 
criticism  of  the  German  notion  of  living  forms  as  de- 
termined by  ideas,  so  largely  dwelt  on  by  Braun,  and 

1  Gushing' 's  Parliamentary  Law,  by  Judge  L.  S.  Cashing. 

2  Two  dogs,  Beppo  and  Zeo. 


JET.  61.]  BINOCULAR   VISION.  361 

so  much  favoured  by  Burnett  and  Agassiz.  Some  of 
my  friends  here  have  spoken  well  of  the  literary  exe- 
cution of  the  lecture. 

Hayes  has  received  the  Report  of  the  Torbane  Mine 
trial.  The  substance  of  it  is,  I  believe,  published  in 
the  "  Journal  of  the  Microscopical  Society,"  along  with 
Quekett's  detailed  observations  and  beautiful  plates. 

1  read  eagerly  the  numbers  of  the  "  Edinburgh  New 
Philosophical  Journal,"  as  they  come  out.  The  Oc- 
tober number  is  now  before  me.  It  is  interesting  to 
see  in  such  papers  as  those  of  Harkness,  of  Cork,  the 
recognition  of  the  principle  of  folded  structure,  which 
we  knew  and  applied  so  extensively  twenty  years  ago. 
There  is  an  odd  awkwardness  in  the  descriptions  given 
by  Harkness  in  the  article  on  Cleavage  which  sur- 
prises me.  You  will  see  that  the  whole  of  the  paper 
might,  with  greater  clearness,  be  given  in  one  third 
the  space.  How  different  are  your  descriptions  of 
structural  features.  Indeed,  my  dear  Henry,  I  think 
that  even  in  our  old  annual  reports  the  kind  of  de- 
scription is  far  more  precise  and  picture-like  than  what 
we  meet  with  in  geological  writings  generally.  But 
think  what  a  training  we  had  in  the  study  of  Appala- 
chian structure !  .  .  . 

I  am  expecting  criticisms  and  objections1  from 
Brewster,  and  still  more  from  Wheatstone,  but  I  am 
ready  for  them.  I  shall  send  along  with  the  MSS. 
some  cards  of  figures  in  ink,  to  illustrate  my  experi- 
ments by  the  use  of  the  common  stereoscope.  .  .  . 

I  have  no  higher  objective  than  1-4  inch.  My 
microscope  is  of  the  make  of  Smith  &  Beck,  recom- 
mended by  Morris.  It  is  the  next  to  their  largest 
size.  I  should  like  to  have  an  objective  of  greater 
power.  Indeed,  I  believe  their  present  1-4  inch  is 
much  greater.  But  I  have  no  money  as  yet  for  such 
a  luxury.  Before  you  are  leaving  I  may  write  again 
on  the  subject.  .  .  . 

1  On  his  Observations  on  Binocular  Vision. 


362  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1856. 


BOSTON,  Christmas  Morning,  1855. 

The  ground  is  white  with  snow  and  sleet,  and  the 
icy  shower  is  rattling  against  my  windows  as  I  sit 
down  to  speak  a  loving  word  to  my  dear  brother  across 
the  sea.  There  is  an  influence  coming  from  early  as- 
sociation which  fills  this  holiday  season  with  tender 
recollections  of  the  past,  and  with  kind  as  well  as  wise 
resolves  for  the  future.  With  what  an  earnest  solici- 
tude for  your  happiness  does  my  heart  now  warm  to- 
wards you,  my  dear  brother,  and  with  what  true  joy  do 
I  dwell  on  your  improved  health  and  the  prospect  of 
future  cheerful  labour  and  mutual  helpfulness  for  us 
all.  A  thousand  wishes  crowd  to  be  expressed,  but  I 
can  only  say,  God  bless  you,  my  own  dear  brother ! 
and  beg  you  to  take  as  the  type  of  my  present  thoughts 
the  happy  affection  of  our  boyhood  which,  ever  dwell- 
ing on  and  around  us,  overflowed  our  breasts  in  this 
festive  season,  making  our  home,  even  shadowed  by 
poverty,  a  place  full  of  earth's  truest,  sweetest  hap- 
piness. The  long  interval  of  years  has  not  dimmed 
the  images  of  parental  goodness  or  of  loving  brother- 
hood. To-day  we  may  open  the  casket  in  which  they 
are  kept  within  our  heart  of  hearts,  and  have  sweet 
pleasure  in  dwelling  on  the  dear  memory  of  those 
who  have  left  them  to  us.  ... 

BOSTON,  March  11,  1856. 

...  I  am  glad  you  saw  Brush  and  were  able  to 
do  him  service.  He  has  talent,  and  will,  I  am  sure, 
come  home  well  skilled  in  all  branches  of  practical 
chemistry,  as  well  as  much  else.  .  .  . 

In  a  letter  from  Robert  a  few  days  ago,  I  learned 
that  he  had  been  superintending  some  attempts  to 
blow  up  the  ice  in  the  Delaware,  opposite  the  city, 
using  some  of  his  Bunsen  cells,  and  igniting  by  wires 
extended  from  the  wharf.  The  effect  was  insignifi- 
cant. .  .  .  Tell  me  in  your  next  what  sort  of  an 
audience  you  had  at  the  Koyal  Institution.  What  is 


^ET.  51.]  SIR  DAVID  BREWSTER.  363 

Faraday  about  just  now  ?  and  Wheatstone  ?  Tyndall 
seems  to  be  taking  a  leading  part  at  the  Royal  Insti- 
tution. He  has  fine  talents,  and  I  hope  he  is  a  good 
fellow ;  but  where  is  there  another  Faraday  I 

BOSTON,  March  25,  1856. 

I  shall  look  impatiently  for  the  March  number 
of  the  "  Philosophical  Journal."  Surely  Sir  David 
Brewster  will  read  what  I  have  written  before  criticis- 
ing. If  what  you  say  of  his  comments  be  true,  he 
has  entirely  misconceived  me.  But  I  can  readily  set 
him  right.  He  is,  I  know,  very  irritable  and  tena- 
cious, and  I  should  dislike  controversy  with  him. 
Besides,  I  have  a  true  veneration  for  his  services  as  a 
man  of  science.  .  .  . 

Gardner,  of  Edinburgh,  mentions  you  in  very  com- 
plimentary terms.  What  a  lovable  old  man  is  this 
Patriarch  of  the  Faculty  !  .  .  . 

TO   JAMES   SAVAGE,   JB.    (TRAVELLING  IN  EUROPE). 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  21,  1856. 

MY  DEAR  JIM,  —  E.  and  I  have  for  nearly  a  week 
been  enjoying  the  milder  climate  of  this  pleasant  city, 
and  the  true  home  comforts  of  Girard  Street,  where 
my  dyspeptic  ailments  have  been  almost  dispersed  by 
the  skill  of  my  brother  Robert.  I  was  far  from  well, 
but  in  a  few  days  I  hope  to  bound  whistling  up  the 
stairs  at  No.  1  Temple  Place. 

Will  you  let  me,  ignorant  as  I  am  of  things  Eu- 
ropean, offer  you  advice?  From  your  last  letter  I 
infer  that  your  desire  to  see  more  of  the  Continent 
may  detain  you  from  England  until  it  will  be  too 
late  to  make  a  satisfactory  visit  to  the  Blessed  Island, 
as  your  father  calls  it.  After  all,  my  dear  James,  it 
is  from  the  Fatherland  (i.  e.,  the  mother  country)  that 
we  must  continue  to  draw  the  most  valuable  helps  in 
our  social  and  practical  life,  and  the  most  reliable 
guidance  in  politics  and  philosophy. 


364  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1856. 

As  a  Bostonian  you  will  be  pleased  to  learn  that 
the  fire-alarm  system  has  just  been  introduced  here, 
and  will  soon  be  put  in  operation  also  in  New  York. 

Population  is  flowing  into  Kansas  rapidly  from  the 
free  States ;  more  slowly,  but  yet  I  fear  too  actively, 
from  the  region  of  slavery.  I  have  no  fear  that  the 
latter  will  succeed  in  establishing  its  institutions  in 
the  new  country,  but  I  dread  the  general  effect  of  the 
fratricidal  conflicts  that  seem  to  be  impending.  I 
am,  however,  of  those  who  think  that  our  Union  is  too 
strongly  framed  in  constitutional  right  and  bolted  to- 
gether by  mutual  interest,  to  be  severed  by  even  such 
a  shock  as  this. 

We  have  not  forgotten  that  this  is  our  dear  Jamie's 
birthday.  We  shall  drink  your  health  at  dinner  in 
bumpers  of  foaming  ale. 

God  bless  you,  my  dear  fellow,  and  send  you  back 
to  us  as  good  a  boy  as  you  were  on  leaving. 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

BOSTON,  April  29,  1856. 

.  .  .  Can  you  learn  from  Gregory  or  James  Forbes 
whether  any  definite  law  has  yet  been  made  out  in 
England  or  Scotland  in  regard  to  the  meteoric  condi- 
tions proper  to  the  greater  or  less  abundance  of  ozone? 
Thus  far  I  have  found  it  always  abundant  upon  the 
setting  in  of  a  wind  from  any  quarter  between  W. 
and  N.,  and  quite  absent  in  those  from  between  E. 
and  S.  I  will  tabulate  the  results  by  coordinates  and 
send  them  to  you.1  .  .  . 

Robert  has  been  made  Dean  of  the  Faculty  by  the 
unanimous  wish  of  Carson  and  the  rest  of  his  col- 
leagues. The  office  will  give  him  but  little  trouble 
and  will  add  something  to  his  income.  It  did  my 
heart  good  to  see  how  universally  he  is  beloved  and 
respected  in  Philadelphia.  .  .  . 

1  See  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  vol.  v.  p.  32 ;  also  Sim- 
man's  Journal,  vol.  xxii.  p.  141,  1858. 


Mr.  51.]  POLITICS  AND  GEOLOGY.  365 


SUNNY  HILL,  July  6, 1856. 

...  I  believe  I  mentioned  in  a  former  letter  hav- 
ing met  in  Washington  with  Blodgett  and  Newberry. 
Leidy  is  active  in  the  description  of  fossils  from  the 
West,  and  indeed  from  all  quarters.  .  .  .  Wyman,  I 
believe,  is  working  systematically  at  the  lower  reptil- 
ians, Menopoma,  etc.,  expecting  to  bring  out  his  re- 
sults in  the  "  Smithsonian  Contributions."  .  .  .  Poor 
Sumner's  strength  appears  to  be  seriously  broken, 
and  it  is  doubtful  if  he  will  be  able  to  resume  his  seat 
this  session.  The  effect  can  hardly  be  due  to  the 
physical  hurt  he  sustained,  but  must  be  owing  to  the 
great  perturbation  of  his  nervous  system. 

The  Report  of  the  Kansas  investigating  committee 
confirms  the  very  worst  reports  we  had  of  the  border 
outrages.  It  has  not  yet  been  acted  on  in  Congress. 

Appearances  indicate  that  most  of  the  Whigs  of  the 
Northern  and  Eastern  States  will  favour  the  Fremont 
ticket,  as  the  only  means  of  preventing  the  triumph 
of  the  slave  power.  Indeed,  under  present  circum- 
stances, I  do  not  see  why  they  should  hesitate  to 
do  so.  The  Boston  Whig  committee  in  their  late 
meeting  avoided  any  committal  of  the  party  in  this 
matter,  and  this,  I  believe,  is  Hillard's  counsel  just 
now.  But  they  will  be  obliged,  individually,  if  not  as 
a  party,  to  act  decidedly  in  so  momentous  an  alterna- 
tive. ...  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  you  are  to  have  the 
benefit  of  a  trip  to  Arran,  and  other  excursions,  and 
that  you  may  probably  go  to  the  Continent  to  meet 
Desor.1  .  .  . 

BOSTON,  August  12, 1856. 

...  As  all  the  Paradoxides  are  confined  to  the 
very  lowest  Silurian  of  Murchison,  or  the  Primordial 
division  of  the  Bohemian  rocks  according  to  Barrande, 
we  shall  probably  have  to  place  the  slates  of  Quincy 
and  Braintree  very  near  the  base  of  the  Palaeozoic 
series,  at  least  as  low,  I  presume,  as  the  Potsdam,  or 
our  Primal  rocks.  .  .  . 

1  P.  J.  Edouard  Desor,  Swiss  geologist. 


366  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1856. 

Nothing  of  consequence  is  doing  in  the  societies. 
The  Natural  History  meetings,  of  which  I  attended  the 
last,  are  fuller  and  more  interesting  than  formerly, 
chiefly  on  account  of  Agassiz's  presence. 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   ROBERT. 

BOSTON,  August  13, 1856. 

I  write  a  hurried  line  to  say  that  I  have  lately  been 
much  interested  in  a  discovery  I  have  developed  of 
old  Silurian  fossils  in  some  of  the  altered  slates  al- 
most adjoining  the  sienite  of  Quincy,  and  that,  feeling 
myself  in  pretty  good  plight,  I  intend  taking  them  to 
Albany,  where  they  will  excite  great  interest.  This 
is  the  most  curious  and  important  discovery  ever  made 
in  the  geology  of  this  region.  .  .  . 

TO  JOSEPH   L.    BATES. 

LUNENBTJRG,  September  5,  1856. 

SiB,  —  Your  communication  inviting  me  in  behalf 
of  the  Massachusetts  Charitable  Mechanic  Associa- 
tion to  act  as  one  of  the  judges  of  stoves,  etc.,  reached 
me  yesterday.  In  reply,  I  have  to  say  that  my  strong 
interest  in  the  progress  of  applied  science,  and  there- 
fore in  the  general  objects  of  your  exhibition,  will  not 
suffer  me  to  withhold  any  small  help  it  may  be  in  my 
power  to  give  in  the  particular  department  to  which 
you  refer.  At  the  same  time  I  wish  you  to  understand 
that  my  attention  to  this  important  branch  of  mechan- 
ical invention  has  been  too  slight  to  familiarize  me 
with  the  details  of  construction,  and  that  I  must  look 
to  the  practical  knowledge  of  others  to  assist  me  in 
my  decisions.  .  .  . 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

SUNNY  HILL,  September  9,  1856. 

.  .  .  Robert  and  Fanny,  who  have  been  with  us  since 
our  return,  are  still  here,  and  we  are  enjoying  pleas- 
ant idleness.  .  .  .  Should  you  see  our  dear  old  friend 
Sedgwick  before  leaving,  assure  him  of  my  kindest 


JEx.  52.]  LOWELL  LECTURES.  367 

remembrances,  and  of  the  true  admiration  with  which 
I  regard,  not  only  his  great  scientific  labours,  but  the 
manliness  with  which  he  has  battled  for  his  rights  and 
for  the  truth.  .  .  . 

I  fear  that  yet  graver  troubles  are  arising  in  con- 
sequence of  the  wicked  tyranny  of  the  administration 
in  regard  to  Kansas.  The  Fillmore  Whigs,  led  by 
Winthrop,  Everett  and  Hillard,  are,  I  think,  only  en- 
couraging the  aggravation  and  outrage  of  the  slave 
power.  Whether  Buchanan  or  Fremont  be  chosen, 
there  will  be  immense  excitement.  In  the  latter 
event  some,  or  perhaps  all,  the  slave  States  will  make 
a  feint  of  resistance  and  disunion,  but  I  do  not  believe 
they  will  carry  out  their  threats.  How  changed  is  the 
ground  of  contest  within  a  few  years !  Formerly  the 
doctrine  of  Fremont  to  let  slavery  alone  where  already 
established,  and  to  make  no  more  slave  States  north  of 
the  compromise  line,  was  considered  good  conservative 
doctrine,  even  in  the  South.  Now  it  is  denounced  as 
abolitionism,  and  the  Southern  demagogues  have 
advanced  to  the  position  of  claiming  that  all  new 
territory  shall  be  open  to  slavery,  and  worse  than, 
this,  shall  be  given  up  to  it.  But  I  believe  the  storm 
will  blow  over,  and  leave  us  in  a  really  better  con- 
dition. .  .  . 

The  great  mechanical  exhibition  in  Quincy  and 
Faneuil  Halls  opens  to-morrow,  and  perhaps  Robert 
will  accompany  me  to  Boston  to  take  a  look  at  it.  .  .  . 

During  the  winter  of  1856-57  Mr.  Rogers  was  in 
feeble  health,  and  passed  some  weeks  in  Philadelphia, 
under  his  physician's  care.  He  was  able,  however,  to 
give  a  course  of  lectures  in  the  Lowell  Institute  on 
the  Elementary  Laws  of  Physics. 

In  the  spring  of  1857  Professor  Henry  Rogers  vis- 
ited Boston,  and  on  his  return  to  Scotland  took  with 
him  his  wife  and  daughter  Edith.  They  resided  for 
a  time  in  Edinburgh,  while  he  superintended  the  pub- 


368  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1857. 

lication  of  his  Pennsylvania  Keport.  Mr.  Rogers 
was  still  in  delicate  health,  and  in  July  determined  to 
try  the  effect  of  an  ocean  voyage  and  a  short  visit  to 
Great  Britain. 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

LUNENBURG,  July  13,  1857. 

...  I  am  seriously  thinking  of  a  short  visit  to 
England,  especially  for  the  advantage  of  the  voyage 
to  and  fro.  For  although  I  believe  I  shall  gradually 
get  well  even  as  I  am  now  living  on,  I  think  I  might 
in  a  great  degree  shake  off  my  feebleness  with  all  its 
disabilities  by  the  sea  air  and  the  pleasant  excitement 
and  variety  of  a  month  or  two  spent  in  England,  Scot- 
land and  Ireland.  By  the  steamer  of  next  week  I 
will  write  you  what  I  decide  upon  in  this  matter.  .  .  . 

I  have  been  studying  up  the  subject  of  magnetism, 
especially  terrestrial,  in  connection  with  Saboni's  ad- 
mirable memoir  and  map,  and  I  have  had  occasion 
to  remark  a  very  gross  and  wholesale  plagiarism  of 
Noad  in  the  second  volume  of  his  work  on  electricity 
and  magnetism,  now  in  course  of  publication.  I  have 
written  a  short  notice  of  it,  exposing  this  unacknow- 
ledged transfer  of  more  than  forty  pages  from  Brew- 
ster's  "  Magnetism." 

TO  HIS  WIFE. 

LONDON,  HANOVER  SQUARE,  August  12, 1857. 
.  .  .  We  encountered  head-winds  nearly  all  the 
way  to  the  northwest  coast  of  Ireland,  but  for  the  last 
two  days  we  have  had  the  luxury  of  a  calm  sea,  and 
an  atmosphere  exquisitely  balmy,  and  clear  enough  to 
afford  me  the  precious  opportunity  of  seeing  in  detail 
the  picturesque  and  lovely  features  of  the  Irish  coast. 
We  ran  so  near  the  shore  of  Antrim  as  to  be  able  to 
study  the  wonders  of  the  Giant's  Causeway,  and  to 
see  on  the  gentle  seaward  slopes  of  the  mountains  the 
hamlets  and  villages  scattered  amid  the  enamelled 
verdure  which  clothed  the  hills  and  valleys  and  crept 


Mr.  52.]  ARRIVAL  IN  ENGLAND.  369 

far  down  the  slopes  and  into  the  crevices  of  the  rocky 
cliffs  washed  by  the  breakers  of  the  Atlantic.  .  .  . 
Each  new  beauty  that  opened  as  we  moved  from  head- 
land to  headland,  catching  now  views  of  the  misty 
mountains,  now  of  the  far-receding  rocks,  made  me 
lament  afresh  that  you  and  dear  Jamie  were  not  with 
me,  to  help  me  to  be  happy  by  sharing  in  my  delight. 

We  anchored  in  the  Mersey  at  four  A.  M.  on  Mon- 
day, but  we  were  not  relieved  by  the  custom  house  in- 
spector until  nearly  ten.  As  I  was  escorting  one  of  the 
ladies  up  the  pier,  whom  should  I  see  among  the  ex- 
pectant crowd  but  Henry,  who  had  come  to  receive 
me.  .  .  . 

13th. 

...  In  the  afternoon  went  with  Henry  to  Kew 
Gardens.  Failed  to  find  Sir  William  Hooker,  but 
left  my  letters  and  packet  from  Gray.  Walked  about 
the  enchanting  grounds,  more  beautiful  than  when 
you  were  here,  and  returned  late  in  the  evening  by 
omnibus. 

14th.  Henry  has  gone  by  special  invitation  to 
breakfast  with  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Argyll. 
The  Chair  in  Glasgow  is  vacant,  and  he  will  probably 
apply  for  it. 

.  .  .  You  may  say  to  the  servants  that  I  have  often 
thought  of  them,  and  to  Mary  I  thought  the  moun- 
tains of  Donegal  as  beautiful  as  any  I  ever  saw. 

BOWDIN,  NEAR  MANCHESTER, 

Tuesday  Morning1,  August  18. 

Finding  London  nearly  deserted  by  our  scientific 
friends,  we  made  a  visit  with  our  good  friend  Morris 
on  Saturday  to  Sydenham  Palace,  and  took  the  cars 
next  morning  for  Manchester ;  thence  to  this  beautiful 
spot  a  few  miles  beyond,  where  we  find,  in  a  country 
inn,  comfortable  lodgings,  and  have  easy  access  to  the 
Art  Exhibition  by  frequent  trains.  .  .  . 

Yesterday  was  mostly  spent  in  the  Art  Exhibition, 


370  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1857. 

Manchester,  where  with  some  thousands  of  others, 
mostly  well-dressed  people,  I  went,  book  in  hand, 
through  the  early  ages  of  Art,  beginning  with  Cima- 
bue  and  Giotto,  as  far  as  to  the  period  succeeding 
Raphael. 

This  carried  me  over  about  one  half  the  southern 
wall  of  one  of  the  three  great  divisions  of  the  edifice. 
A  glance  further  on  showed  a  glorious  gathering  from 
Titian,  Velasquez,  Murillo  and  on  the  opposite  wall 
an  immense  wealth  of  Dutch  and  Flemish  works.  Of 
course,  I  shall  only  look  at  a  few,  but  I  perceive  that 
the  relish  for  this  enjoyment  has  become  keen,  and  if 
I  were  strong  and  had  more  time,  I  should  regard 
some  weeks'  study  of  this  unrivalled  collection  as  time 
well  applied. 

LLANDUDNO,  Thursday. 

Here  I  am  for  the  second  day  at  one  of  the  most 
lovely  spots  on  the  Welsh  coast,  in  the  curve  of  the 
beautiful  bay  that  lies  between  the  Great  and  Little 
Orme's  Head,  and  only  four  miles  from  Conway.  .  .  . 

This  afternoon,  on  a  little  pony,  I  ascended  the 
lofty  hill  which  forms  the  crown  of  Orme's  Head,  and 
thence  I  looked  down  upon  the  sea  and  out  into  the 
hazy  space,  where  sea  and  sky  could  not  be  separated, 
and  where  the  very  ships  and  boats  seemed  rather 
suspended  mysteriously  in  the  haze  than  floating  on 
the  water.  Here  are  some  seeds  of  wall  flowers  from 
the  top  of  one  of  the  Conway  towers,  to  which  I 
clambered  by  a  ladder,  thinking  you  would  prize  this 
little  token. 

My  last  letter  was  mailed  at  Llandudno,  the  day 
before  my  trip  through  North  Wales.  This  journey 
carried  me  through  Conway,  thence  up  the  beautiful 
vale  of  Llanrwst,  in  which  I  passed  several  striking 
waterfalls,  and  had  a  succession  of  exquisite  views, 
combining  richly  cultivated  hillsides  and  valleys  with 
grand  masses  of  mountain  and  rock,  alternately 
clothed  with  forests  and  with  blooming  heather  which 
overspread  the  cliffs  like  a  velvet  mantle.  .  .  . 


&T.  52.]    HENRY  APPOINTED  TO  GLASGOW.      371 

As  to  my  health,  I  think  I  can  say  it  is  improving. 
I  have  gained  two  or  three  pounds,  but  my  sleep  is 
rarely  good.  I  slept  little  during  the  voyage,  and  not 
well  since,  but  I  think  I  shall  improve  in  this  partic- 
ular, and  that  will  be  the  signal  for  a  rapid  recruit- 
ing, so  you  must  expect  to  hear  the  most  cheering 
accounts  from  me.  .  .  . 

DUBLIN,  September  3,  1857. 

.  .  .  Since  coming  here,  on  Wednesday,  I  have 
been  in  a  perpetual  whirl  of  business  and  amusement, 
if  you  may  so  term  the  crowded  receptions  at  the 
castle  and  the  Provost's  house,  and  the  various  smaller 
entertainments. 

.  .  .  The  meeting  [of  the  British  Association]  is 
quite  as  full  as  that  of  Birmingham,  although  in  the 
geological  section  the  absence  of  the  most  prominent 
men,  Lyell  and  Murchison,  has  been  much  felt. 

September  4. 

I  am  before  breakfast  snatching  a  few  minutes  to 
close  this  letter,  as  we  are  to  leave  in  less  than  an 
hour  on  an  excursion  to  Parsonstown  to  see  Lord 
Rosse's  telescope.  We  shall  remain  there  until  to- 
morrow afternoon.  .  .  .  Yesterday,  at  noon,  the  im- 
posing ceremonies  of  conferring  honorary  degrees 
took  place  in  the  grand  old  college  chapel.  A  num- 
ber of  the  members  of  the  Association  were  thus 
complimented.  Among  them  brother  Henry  and 
Foucault,  who  is  also  present. 

.  .  .  Henry  received  several  days  ago  the  announce- 
ment of  his  having  been  appointed  to  the  Chair  in 
the  University  of  Glasgow,  so  that  altogether  the  pres- 
ent is  a  season  of  very  just  elation  with  him.  He  has 
had  even  greater  success  than  I  imagined  in  making 
powerful  friends  in  Scotland  and  England,  to  whose 
influence  with  the  Lord  Advocate  he  owes  his  very 
complimentary  appointment. 

Last  evening  we  dined  at  Malahide  Castle,  the  resi- 


372  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1857. 

dence  of  Lord  Talbot  de  Malahide.  It  is  about  nine 
miles  from  the  city,  surrounded  with  lawns  and  parks 
and  noble  clumps  and  avenues  of  old  trees.  The 
building  is  mostly  of  the  date  of  Henry  II.,  a  grand 
old  castle,  and  it  was  not  a  little  impressive  to  be 
received  within  these  ancient  walls,  which  had  never 
ceased  to  be  inhabited  by  the  Talbots  for  the  last 
seven  hundred  years. 

The  superb  dining-hall  was  hung  with  paintings  of 
the  illustrious  ancestry,  and  over  our  heads,  from  the 
lofty  rafters  of  the  ceiling,  were  hanging  many  an 
ancient  banner,  the  history  of  which  I  longed  to  learn. 
How  I  wished  you  could  see  this  fine  specimen  of  the 
ancient  times  so  nobly  preserved,  and  enjoy,  as  I  have 
done,  the  elegant  and  quiet  hospitality  of  Lord  and 
Lady  Talbot. 

On  Monday  morning  we  shall  set  off  by  rail  for 
Antrim  Castle,  the  abode  of  Lord  Massereene.  He 
very  cordially  urged  me  and  Henry  to  pay  him  a  visit, 
and  from  his  house  to  make  our  tour  to  the  Giant's 
Causeway,  which  we  can  accomplish  in  less  than  a 
day.  We  shall  then  go  to  Glen  View  House,  where 
our  friend  Mr.  Ogilby  will  make  us  acquainted  with 
some  of  our  cousins  through  the  father's  side.  .  .  . 

DUBLIN,  Saturday,  September  5,  1857. 

On  Thursday  morning  at  ten  o'clock,  we  joined  the 
party  of  the  Association  going  to  visit  Lord  Rosse. 
As  we  approached  Parsonstown  in  a  long  procession 
of  jaunting-cars  and  carriages,  carrying  us  from  the 
terminus,  some  six  miles  across  the  country,  our 
progress  was  cheered  by  crowds  of  smiling  peasantry 
gathered  at  numerous  points  along  the  road.  At 
Parsonstown  most  of  the  party  stopped  to  take  their 
lodgings  with  the  kind  inhabitants,  while  those  of  us 
who  were  to  be  the  special  guests  at  the  Castle  went 
on,  through  the  beautiful  avenue  and  under  the  noble 
Gothic  gateway  that  led  into  the  grassy  lawn  in  front 
of  this  castellated  mansion.  Eighteen  of  us  were 


-ffiT.62.]  ANTRIM  CASTLE.  373 

provided  with  pleasant  chambers  in  this  hospitable 
home.  Among  the  number  were  Foucault,  the  Abbe 
Moigno,  Abbadie,  Daubeny,  Gassiot,  the  Schlagen- 
weits,  Lord  and  Lady  Massereene,  etc.  All  the  party, 
amounting  to  about  one  hundred  and  eighty,  were 
feasted  most  luxuriously  in  the  ample  dining-hall,  and 
were  entertained  in  the  beautiful  drawing-rooms  and 
libraries.  The  workshop,  laboratory  and  grinding- 
rooms  were  thrown  open  for  our  inspection. 

Lady  Rosse  showed  us  a  large  number  of  photo- 
graphs of  her  own  execution,  and  acted  the  amiable 
and  kind  hostess  to  perfection. 

Before  taking  our  leave  on  Friday,  we  had  a  sump- 
tuous lunch,  or  rather  dinner,  at  the  close  of  which 
Dr.  Daubeny  proposed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  our  excel- 
lent entertainers,  which,  at  his  request,  I  seconded 
with  a  short  speech.  This  was  so  well  received  that 
the  reporters  present,  who  had  not  expected  anything 
of  the  kind,  and  had  taken  no  notes,  bored  me  after- 
wards for  a  copy  of  my  remarks,  which,  of  course,  I 
could  not  give  except  in  a  very  general  way.  .  .  . 

ANTRIM  CASTLE,  Thursday,  September  10,  1857. 
In  this  seat  of  beauty  and  refined  hospitality  we 
have  been  passing  the  hours  most  pleasantly  since 
Monday  evening,  when  we  arrived  a  little  before  din- 
ner. Lady  Massereene  was  detained  in  Dublin  a  day 
later,  but  we  spent  Tuesday  in  walking  and  driving 
over  the  wonderfully  beautiful  domains  of  his  lord- 
ship, embracing  a  great  extent  of  park  and  lawn,  bor- 
dering on  the  northeastern  side  of  Lough  Neagh,  the 
largest  of  the  Irish  lakes.  This  being  my  first  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  thoroughly  the  luxurious  improve- 
ments of  an  aristocratic  seat,  I  have,  as  you  may 
have  supposed,  found  great  enjoyment  in  my  walks 
and  drives.  The  castle,  modelled  originally  after  a 
French  chateau,  is  surrounded  in  great  part  by  the 
most  exquisite  gardens  I  have  ever  seen,  separated  by 
huge  walls  of  trimmed  thorn  and  linden  and  other 


374  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1857. 

plants.  Numerous  avenues  through  the  neighbouring 
wood,  converging  at  various  points,  offered  pleasant 
vistas,  at  one  time,  of  the  lake  and  Thane's  Castle 
beyond,  at  another  of  a  distant  round  tower,  with  its 
conical  cap,  the  mystery  of  Irish  antiquaries  ;  here 
the  village  spire,  there  the  strange  terraced  moat,  at 
the  angle  of  the  castle  surmounted  by  the  flag ;  at 
the  end  of  another  avenue,  the  mimic  waterfall. 
Fuchsias,  trained  like  vines  to  the  castle  walls,  blend 
with  ivy  and  our  Virginia  creeper.  The  climate  is  so 
balmy  that  the  tenderest  flowers  flourish  out-of-doors, 
and  such  a  bright  verdure  overspreads  the  lawn,  even 
at  this  season,  as  has  no  counterpart  with  us  except 
in  the  first  week  of  the  most  genial  spring.  I  can  give 
you  no  details  of  park,  grove  and  stream,  and  all  the 
other  beauties  that  have  made  this  spot  so  charming 
to  me.  The  general  appearance  of  the  castle  itself 
you  see  in  the  little  engraving  which  I  send.  Yester- 
day, Henry  and  I  made  a  visit  to  the  Giant's  Cause- 
way. .  .  . 

Lady  Massereene  likes  a  house  full  of  guests,  and 
beside  ourselves  has  now  some  eight  others,  among 
them  two  pleasant  young  ladies,  the  Misses  Forbes, 
from  Scotland,  and  a  young  Irish  girl  from  Dublin, 
all,  of  course,  refined  and  cultivated.  The  eldest 
child,  Dorcas,  is  a  beautiful  shy  girl  of  about  fifteen, 
the  next  a  bright  boy  of  thirteen,  and  all  have  the 
simplest  and  most  cordial  manners  imaginable.  We 
breakfast  at  nine  and  a  half,  lunch  at  two,  and  dine 
at  six  and  a  half,  then  we  have  chat  and  music,  and 
an  amusing  game,  in  which  all  can  join,  called 
"races."  .  .  . 

GLENNOCK  COTTAGE,  NEAR  NEWTON  STEWART, 

COUNTY  TYRONE,  September  15,  1857. 
I  am  now  seated  in  the  neat  parlour  of  Mr.  John 
Rogers,  a  distant  relative  of  my  father,  and  as  I  look 
out  through  the  spacious  bow-window   over  the  ver- 
dant slope  on  which  his  hospitable  cottage  stands,  I 


JET.  52.]          THE  ANCESTRAL  HOME.  375 

see,  beyond  the  old  stone  bridge  that  spans  the  Stride- 
water,  the  neat  village  of  Newton  Stewart,  nestling  at 
the  base  of  Betsey  Bell,  one  of  the  loveliest  hills  I 
have  yet  seen,  even  in  this  land  of  verdant  beauty. 
Betsey  Bell  on  one  side,  and  Mary  Gray  on  the  other, 
rising  from  the  fertile  valley,  watered  by  the  winding 
and  romantic  Strule,  recall  to  me  the  song  I  heard  my 
mother  sing  when  I  was  on  her  knee,  and  speak  to 
me  of  many  a  legend  which  I  heard  in  my  earliest 
childhood.1 

After  leaving  Antrim  Castle,  where  Henry  sepa- 
rated from  me  the  day  before,  I  took  the  cars  for 
Londonderry,  and  thence  was  driven  in  a  jaunting-car 
to  Glenview,  the  residence  of  my  hospitable  friend, 
William  Ogilby.  He  has  very  large  landed  posses- 
sions, and  lives  in  great  elegance,  as  well  as  comfort, 
on  the  slope  of  Dunellen,  amid  the  long-swelling  hills 
of  Tyrone,  and  in  view  of  the  nearer  peaks  of  the  wild 
heathery  mountains  of  Donegal.  His  wife,  a  niece 
of  Lord  Abercorn,  and  relative  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  is 
a  gentle  lady  of  refined  manners  but  simple  home 
tastes,  devoting  herself  chiefly  to  her  children,  two 
beautiful  rosy  boys  and  as  many  girls.  .  .  . 

5  P.  M.  I  have  been  rambling  up  the  beautiful  val- 
ley, partly  by  railroad  and  partly  in  a  car,  and  am 
seated  in  the  hotel  of  Omagh,  waiting  for  the  return 
train  to  Newton  Stewart.  I  have  seen  Edergole,  the 
large  tract,  or  township,  I  may  call  it,  which  once  be- 
longed to  our  family,  and  have  trod  the  ground  which 
my  father's  feet  pressed  in  his  childhood.  It  is  one 
of  the  loveliest  spots  of  this  exquisitely  beautiful 
country,  —  gently  rolling  hills  covered  with  grass  and 
grain,  adorned  with  clustering  trees  and  uncut  hedge- 
rows, and  watered  by  a  stream  that  winds  alternately 

1  Bessie  Bell  and  Mary  Gray,  an  old  Scotch  ballad, 
"  Bing  Bessie  Bell  an'  Mary  Gray, 
They  were  twa  bonnie  lassies, 
They  bipgit  a  bower  on  yon  burn-brae, 
An'  theekit  it  o'er  wi'  rashes." 


376  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1857. 

between  rocky  banks  and  emerald  meadows.  My 
heart  has  been  full,  and  I  have  above  all  thanked 
God  for  America,  and  felt  with  yet  stronger  force  the 
sentiment  which  has  continually  presented  itself  since 
I  have  been  abroad,  that  my  dear  western  home  de- 
serves to  be  more  loved  than  even  the  heartiest  Amer- 
ican loves  it.  Ireland  is,  indeed,  a  land  of  extraordi- 
nary natural  beauty  and  has  an  elysian  climate,  but 
long,  long  will  it  be  ere  its  people  will  have  that  gen- 
eral culture  and  personal  independence  which  make 
the  glory  of  New  England.  And  this  is  no  less  true 
of  parts  of  Wales  and  Scotland,  and  in  a  degree,  I 
think,  of  England. 

To-morrow  I  go  southwards  to  Enniskillen,  where  I 
shall  perhaps  visit  Florence  Court,  Lord  Enniskillen's 
beautiful  residence,  thence  to  Galway  and  to  Kil- 
larney,  and  lastly  to  Cork,  where  I  expect  letters  to  be 
forwarded  to  me  from  Edinburgh  and  London.  .  .  . 

As  I  am  improving  in  health,  I  am  inclined  to  stay 
two  or  three  weeks  longer  than  I  at  first  proposed, 
and  may  not  leave  until  the  last  of  October.  A  week 
ago  I  weighed  136  pounds,  which  is  four  or  five  more 
than  when  I  left  home.  .  .  . 

To-day  has  been  a  day  of  sad  feeling  with  me.  To 
see  old  homesteads  and  what  was  once  a  beautiful 
realm  of  social  and  family  joy  abandoned  fills  my 
heart  with  sorrow  ;  —  and  yet  why  did  I  expect  aught 
else  ?  Certainly  I  had  no  reason  to  look  for  another 
result.  Yet  I  have  performed  a  pious  duty,  and  I 
shall  soon  banish  the  sadness  that  has  accompanied 
it.  ... 

On  October  1,  1857,  Mr.  Rogers  very  narrowly 
escaped  death  in  a  peculiar  accident  while  travelling. 
The  following  letters  tell  the  story,  but  Mr.  Rogers 
makes  as  light  as  possible  of  what  was  really  a  most 
serious  affair :  — 


53.]      NARROW  ESCAPE  FROM  DEATH.        377 


TO   HIS   WIFE. 

SWAN  INN,  NORWICH,  ENGLAND, 

Monday,  October  4,  1857. 

I  am  seated  in  a  cosy  room  in  this  most  comfortable 
inn,  thankful  to  God  that  I  am  so  well  as  to  be  able 
with  ease  to  write  to  you.  On  my  way  hither  on  Fri- 
day night  I  was  injured  by  a  large  stone  thrown  into 
the  car,  while  we  were  moving  at  a  high  speed ;  and 
I  am  compelled  to  remain  here  some  days  to  recruit. 
The  stone  (a  piece  of  flint)  struck  me  in  the  centre 
of  the  left  cheek,  producing  a  large  wound,  but  luck- 
ily did  not  pass  entirely  through,  and  caused  a  small 
fracture  both  of  the  lower  and  upper  jaw.  I  have 
had  but  little  fever,  and  the  doctor  thinks  the  wound 
is  doing  well,  and  that  the  broken  bones  will  not  be 
long  in  uniting.  We  were  twelve  miles  from  Norwich 
when  the  injury  was  done,  but  I  preferred  continuing 
my  journey  to  this  place,  in  spite  of  the  great  pain  and 
loss  of  blood.  It  was  well  I  did  so,  as  I  have  fallen 
into  kind  hands,  and  am  provided  with  every  comfort 
and  attendance  that  could  be  desired.  The  principal 
people  of  the  city  have  offered  their  services,  and  have 
shown  their  sympathy  in  a  variety  of  grateful  ways. 
I  may  be  detained  here  until  the  end  of  the  week,  or 
even  longer,  but  I  am  in  hopes  of  being  able  to  pursue 
my  journey  to  London  by  Friday.  How  little  we 
know  of  our  future !  When  I  last  wrote  you,  the  day 
before  leaving  Manchester,  I  was  exulting  in  my  im- 
proved health.  At  that  time  I  had  not  decided  on 
coming  this  way,  which  I  was  led  to  do  by  a  kind 
acquaintance  telling  me  that  I  should  certainly  find 
Sedgwick  here.  I  therefore  agreed  to  make  this  di- 
gression, and  was  much  pleased  on  the  way  by  my 
view  of  the  cathedral  of  Peterborough,  and  of  the 
far  grander  one  of  Ely.  It  was  about  two  hours  after 
I  had  enjoyed  the  ancient  wonders  of  this  structure 
and  the  superb  restorations  that  I  received  the  terrible 
blow  from  which  I  am  now  suffering.  .  .  . 


378  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1857. 

I  believe  my  injury  is  already  noised  in  the  papers, 
although  on  that  night  and  the  following  day  I  en- 
joined upon  the  police  and  reporters  not  to  mention 
my  name,  as  I  feared  that  the  exaggerated  news  might 
reach  Edinburgh  and  America  before  I  could  write. 
.  .  .  Rest  assured  that  I  have  been  frank  with  you  as 
to  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  injuries.  They  are 
severe,  but  not  at  all  serious.  The  wound  in  the  face 
will,  I  trust,  not  leave  much  of  a  scar,  and  the  slight 
fracture  will  doubtless  soon  be  healed.  .  .  . 


TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 
NORWICH,  Saturday  Morning,  October  2,  1857. 

...  It  grieves  me  to  have  such  a  letter  to  write. 
But  I  made  good  escape  with  my  life,  for  an  inch  or 
two  higher  would  have  brought  the  jagged  missile 
upon  my  temple.  ...  I  find  that  Sedgwick  left 
Norwich  three  days  ago.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  The  doctor  does  not  apprehend  any  serious 
delay  in  the  healing.  I  have  had  very  kind  visits 
from  the  mayor,  and  sheriff,  and  other  gentlemen  of 
Norwich,  as  well  as  from  Mr.  Gurney,  the  M.  P.  for 
this  county.  The  people  of  the  house  are  extremely 
attentive,  and  make  me  quite  comfortable. 

TO  HIS  WIFE. 

NORWICH,  Thursday,  October  7,  8  p.  M. 

.  .  .  The  wound  on  my  face  is  so  much  closed  that 
I  am  able  now  to  assure  you  that  my  beauty  will  not 
be  much  marred  by  it.  The  swelling  slowly  subsides, 
but  still  gives  me  an  aldermanic  look  on  one  side. 
As  to  the  progress  that  the  broken  bones  are  making 
in  healing  their  differences  I  cannot  so  certainly  speak, 
but  they  are  making  progress,  and  in  two  or  three 
days  more  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  venture  into  the 
open  air. 

Thus  far  I  have  alternated  between  my  chamber 
and  sitting-room,  in  both  of  which  I  have  had  a  very 


-Ex.  53.]  NORWICH  FRIENDS.  379 

lonesome  time,  as  you  may  suppose.  I  contrive  va- 
rious illusions  as  a  substitute  for  society,  such  as  hav- 
ing two  chairs  beside  my  own,  at  the  round  table 
where  I  now  write,  and  placing  you  in  one  and  Jamie 
or  Robert  in  the  other,  and  then  talking  in  whispers 
for  all  three  in  earnest ;  this  has  been  quite  a  comfort 
to  me.  Of  course  I  see  the  papers,  and  besides  have 
some  books  from  the  library,  for  I  am  rather  lionized 
in  Norwich.  .  .  . 

TO  HIS   BROTHER  HENRY. 

NORWICH,  Friday,  8  p.  M.,  October  8,  1857. 
.  .  .  They  tell  amusing  stories  here  of  Sedgwick's 
preaching,  which  is  full  of  geology  and  natural  science 
in  general,  and  digressive  to  an  extraordinary  degree. 
He  errs  evidently  in  making  his  sermons  much  too 
long,  although  I  find  the  substance  of  them  much 
approved  of  by  the  more  intelligent  hearers.  .  .  „ 

TO   HIS  WIFE. 

EDINBURGH,  October  16,  1857. 

In  my  anxiety  that  you  should  hear  of  my  injury 
first  from  me,  I  last  week  wrote  several  letters  to  you, 
one  of  which  to  go  by  the  line  from  Southampton.  I 
continued  to  do  well  at  the  inn,  under  the  watchful  care 
of  the  nurse  and  my  kind,  sympathizing  doctor,1  and 
on  Saturday  he  insisted  on  removing  me  to  his  own 
house.  There  I  remained  in  delightful  quarters  for 
three  or  four  days,  walking  a  little  and  riding  out 
with  him,  until  I  thought  I  could  venture  to  make 
the  journey  hither,  which  I  did  without  hurt  the  day 
before  yesterday. 

Never  was  a  stranger  more  kindly  and  generously 
treated  than  was  I  by  these  noble  people  of  Norwich. 
After  all  his  laborious  care  of  me  at  the  inn,  and  after- 
wards, my  good  doctor  positively  refused  to  accept  a 
fee.  Other  friends  gathered  about  me,  and  before  I 
had  left  Norwich  I  had  grown  to  love  the  city  and 

1  Mr.  William  Firth,  surgeon. 


380  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1857. 

people  as  if  it  had  long  been  my  home.  By  the 
kindness  of  Mr.  Stark,  Mr.  Fitch,  the  Mayor,  Mr. 
Gurney,  M.  P.,  and  others,  I  saw  nearly  all  the  points 
of  interest  in  and  about  this  fine  old  city  without 
weariness  and  with  great  enjoyment.  .  .  . 

This  afternoon  I  walked,  in  company  with  Henry, 
Robert  Chambers  and  Mr.  Cross,  son  of  the  noted 
electrician,  to  the  celebrated  Craiglieth  quarries,  about 
a  mile  beyond  the  wonderful  ravine  of  the  Dean 
Bridge,  which  you  no  doubt  remember.  Here  we 
looked  down  into  the  vast  excavation  which  was  once 
filled  with  the  material  out  of  which  the  whole  of  the 
new  city  has  been  constructed,  —  a  warm  gray  sand- 
stone belonging  to  the  coal  measures.  From  this 
high  bank  we  had  a  superb  view  of  the  city,  flanked 
by  the  Castle  and  Calton  Hill,  and  backed  on  one 
hand  by  the  darkly  shaded  crags  and  Arthur's  Seat, 
and  on  the  other  by  the  softer  hazy  undulations  of  the 
Pentland  Hills. 

I  am  getting  a  frock  coat  made  by  Henry's  learned 
tailor,  John  Anderson,  who  has  found  time  to  drink 
deep  of  philosophy  while  struggling  to  support  life  by 
his  handicraft.  I  have  spent  two  very  pleasant  even- 
ings at  Robert  Chambers's,  and  the  last  time  I  enjoyed 
the  sweet  music  of  the  girls  singing  together,  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Chambers  afterwards,  with  piano  and  flute. 
Meanwhile,  the  third  daughter,  the  genius  and  beauty 
of  the  family,  sketched  as  by  magic  very  good  like- 
nesses of  both  Henry  and  myself.  This  evening  we  go 
to  Professor  Maclaren's  at  Morningside,  where  his 
newly  built  library  is  to  be  inaugurated  by  a  merry 
party,  with  some  dancing  on  the  part  of  the  young 
folk.  .  .  .  You  will  see  from  this  that  my  remaining 
discomforts  of  face  and  jaws  do  not  preclude  me  from 
some  social  enjoyment.  Of  course  I  cannot  go  to 
dinner  parties,  and  at  these  more  informal  affairs  I 
keep  very  quiet. 

Yesterday  I  rode  out  to  the  botanic  gardens,  where 
Balfour  very  kindly  showed  me  through  the  various 


MT.  53.]  EDINBURGH.  381 

treasures  of  which  he  has  charge,  almost  rivalling  the 
richness  of  Kew.  I  have  received  very  kind  letters 
of  inquiry  from  my  cousin  John  Rogers  and  from 
other  friends  in  Ireland  and  England  since  my  acci- 
dent, and  have  had  a  pleasant  correspondence  with 
those  dear  Norwich  friends,  who  have  written  to  know 
of  my  progress.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  You  cannot  imagine  a  more  lovely  child  than  our 
dear  little  Edith.  She  is  much  in  the  garden  with 
her  kind  young  nurse,  and  has  the  most  perfect  health. 
Her  faculties  are  opening  rapidly;  she  talks  in  her 
own  sweet  dialect  very  fluently.  Of  course  she  and 
her  uncle  William  are  the  best  of  friends. 

...  I  have  just  received  a  very  kind  letter  from 
the  Provost  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  inquiring  anx- 
iously about  my  recovery.  .  .  . 

Love  to  James  and  father  and  kind  remembrances 
to  Dottie  and  Jimmie.1  Please  enclose  the  note  to 
Mr.  John  A.  Lowell,  or,  if  you  think  better,  ask  fa- 
ther to  give  the  message  orally.  Kind  regards  to  the 
Ticknors. 

EDINBURGH,  November  6,  1857. 

.  .  .  My  stay  has  given  me  the  opportunity,  espe- 
cially during  the  last  ten  days,  of  making  many  very 
agreeable  friends,  and  seeing  something  of  the  work- 
ing of  the  University,  which  I  visited  on  Monday.  I 
have  had  very  pleasant  interviews  with  Forbes,  Greg- 
ory, and  others  who  have  the  lead  in  science  here,  and 
I  have  received  invitations  for  next  week  to  dinners 
and  other  parties,  which  I  shall  not  be  here  to  attend. 
To-morrow  we  dine  with  Professor  James  Forbes,  and 
Dr.  Gregory  pressed  me  to  remain  next  week  and 
dine  with  him.  I  spent  a  very  pleasant  evening  on 
Wednesday  at  Lord  Murray's,  and  shall  be  this  even- 
ing at  George  Combe's.  So  you  see  that  Edinburgh, 
at  first  so  dull,  is  beginning  to  present  great  social 
attractions.  .  .  . 

1  A  maid  and  man  servant. 


382  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1857. 

12  A  GEORGE  STKEET,  HANOVER  SQUARE, 
LONDON,  November  15,  1857. 

...  I  came  up  from  Edinburgh  on  Monday  night, 
having  paused  in  Liverpool  to  secure  a  berth  by  the 
steamer  of  the  21st,  —  the  America.  My  good  friends 
the  Edwardses  had  a  snug  chamber  ready  for  me,  and 
when  Henry  joins  me  in  a  day  or  two  we  shall  have 
between  us  a  nice  little  sitting-room.  On  Tuesday  I 
made  a  visit  to  father's  friend,  good  old  Mr.  Hunter, 
who  was  glad  to  see  me  and  made  many  inquiries 
about  father  and  his  work.  He  is  very  hale-looking, 
and  says  his  health  is  good.  As  he  and  his  daughter 
pressed  me  to  take  family  dinner  with  them,  it  being 
late  when  I  called,  I  gladly  did  so,  and  stayed  until 
after  tea  chatting  with  them  and  young  Mr.  Hunter, 
now  about  being  admitted  to  the  Bar. 

TO   HIS    BROTHER   ROBERT. 

LONDON,  November  11,  1857. 

.  .  .  The  best  inductive  coils  made  here  by  Ladd 
give  a  spark  not  exceeding  4^  inches,  and  cost  twelve 
guineas.  Forbes,  of  Edinburgh,  has  requested  me  to 
order  from  Ritchie  J  one  of  his  best  apparatus.  .  .  . 
Henry,  who  has  gone  over  to  Glasgow  for  a  day  or 
two,  will  be  here  by  the  close  of  the  week  to  look  after 
his  engraver.  He  is  pressing  forward  his  work  with 
all  energy.  .  .  . 

TO  HIS  WIFE. 

LONDON,  November  20,  1857. 

...  I  have  now  been  nearly  two  weeks  in  this  vast 
wilderness  of  men,  and  am  beginning  to  enjoy  some  of 
its  noble  opportunities  for  scientific  intercourse. 

On  Wednesday  I  had  a  delightful  dinner  with  the 
Geological  Club  from  5.30  to  8,  when  we  proceeded 
to  the  meeting.  There,  after  a  paper  by  Phillips,  we 
had  a  long  abstract  on  American  Geology  from  good 
old  Dr.  Bigsby,  which  called  up  Henry  and  myself  as 

1  E.  S.  Ritchie,  electrical  inventor  and  constructor  of  physical  ap- 
paratus, Boston. 


^T.  53.]  LONDON.  383 

well  as  Murchison  and  others,  making  the  meeting  a 
very  animated  and  interesting  one.  Last  night  I  had 
the  honor  of  dining  with  the  Royal  Society  Club,  and 
then  of  attending  a  meeting  in  the  fine  apartments  of 
Burlington  House.  General  Sabine  read  a  valuable 
paper  on  Terrestrial  Magnetism,  on  which  by  invitation 
I  made  a  few  remarks.  I  meet  with  a  very  kind  welcome 
from  all  my  old  scientific  friends,  and  have  made  a 
number  of  valuable  new  acquaintances.  It  was  Pro- 
fessor Miller's  kindness  that  procured  me  an  invita- 
tion yesterday.  I  forgot  to  insert  in  order,  that  before 
attending  the  Royal  Society  I  spent  half  an  hour  with 
the  Chemical,  in  a  neighbouring  room,  where  the  pres- 
ident, Professor  Playfair,  called  upon  me  to  give  an 
account  of  my  ozone  observations  and  other  matters. 
These  were  very  kindly  received.  Since  being  here  I 
have  seen  a  good  deal  of  Morris,  Rupert  Jones,  Mur- 
chison, Bigsby,  Tyndall,  Wheatstone,  Faraday,  Gas- 
siot  and  others,  and  were  you  here  and  we  could  remain 
for  some  months,  I  could  profit  by  and  enjoy  greatly 
these  interviews.  .  .  . 

We  are  to  take  tea  at  Leonard  Homer's  on  Monday 
night,  when  this  kind  old  friend  will  have  several 
knights  of  the  hammer  to  meet  us.  The  Lyells  I  shall 
not  see,  as  they  are  not  to  return  until  next  month. 
To-morrow  morning  I  breakfast  with  Dr.  Carpenter  ; 
on  Monday  I  lunch  at  Hammersmith  with  good  Mr. 
Wheatstone,  on  Wednesday  dine  with  Gassiot,  and 
thus  I  am  likely  to  have  my  time  filled  up  with  pleas- 
ant social  and  scientific  engagements. 

Will  you  please  say  to  Mr.  Ritchie  that  I  have  seen 
Ladd's  coil  in  action,  the  best  in  England,  and  it  can 
scarcely  yield  four  inches  of  spark.  I  hope  he  will  be 
able  to  fill  Forbes's  order  promptly. 

If  I  can  find  time  I  must  run  up  to  Oxford  to  see 
the  registering  apparatus  in  the  Observatory,  and  to 
meet  Phillips  and  his  sister.  Henry's  continued  stay 
has  brought  him  into  the  most  favourable  notice,  so 
that  now  honours  of  all  kinds  are  in  his  path.  Ere- 


384  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1858. 

long  he  will  be  made  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society, 
and  other  learned  bodies  are  seeking  to  enroll  his 
name  on  their  list.  There  is  any  amount  of  confusion 
as  to  the  personality  of  the  two  of  us. 

Mr.  Rogers  reached  home  on  December  14,  1857. 

TO  HIS    BROTHER    ROBERT. 

BOSTON,  February  8,  1858. 

.  .  .  The  steamer  of  yesterday  has  brought  me  a 
letter  from  Henry.  He  is  working  from  nine  A.  M.  to 
nine  P.  M.,  as  he  has  been,  through  the  season.  I  trust 
the  Legislature  [of  Pennsylvania]  will  be  satisfied 
with  waiting  a  little  longer  for  the  second  volume. 
The  whole  work  will  be  most  superb,  far  finer  than 
anything  of  the  kind  published  on  this  side  the  At- 
lantic. 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

BOSTON,  February  8,  1858. 

.  .  .  The  Lecompton  Constitution,  the  work  of  a 
faction  organized  by  Missouri  votes,  has  been  actually 
commended  to  Congress  by  Buchanan  in  a  message  full 
of  sophistry  and  disingenuous  statements,  and  will 
probably  command  a  majority  of  the  Senate.  A  motion 
is  to-day  to  be  considered  in  the  lower  house  for  refer- 
ring it  to  a  special  committee  with  instructions  to 
inquire  into  the  facts,  and  we  are  expecting  to  hear 
of  scenes  of  stormy  debate  and  violent  personalities. 
There  can,  however,  be  no  question  that  Kansas  will 
come  in  when  admitted  as  a  free  State,  however  the 
weakness  of  the  President  and  the  madness  of  the 
Southern  fire-eaters  may  delay  the  result.  I  see  with 
sorrow  and  indignation  that  Senator  Mason  contem- 
plates some  general  provision  for  bringing  new  States 
into  the  Union  by  pairs,  so  as  to  maintain  the  present 
balance  between  slave  and  free  States!!  But  this 
cannot  be  done. 

Your  friend,  old  Mr.  Quincy.  attained  his  86th 
birthday  last  Friday. 


JET.  53.]  SINGING  FLAMES.  385 


TO   HIS    BROTHER   HENRY. 

BOSTON,  March  9,  1858. 

.  .  .  Here  but  little  is  doing  beyond  the  usual  slow 
movement  of  some  of  the  surveys.  Dale  Owen  has,  I 
learn,  published  a  second  Report,  but  I  cannot  get  'it. 
Hall  is,  I  believe,  bringing  out  another  volume.  The 
most  striking  news  in  geology,  however,  is  contained  in 
a  letter  from  Swallow J  to  Dana,  in  the  March  number 
of  "  Silliman,"  in  which  he  states  that  he  has  found 
quite  a  large  number  of  undoubted  Permian  shells, 
etc.,  above  the  Coal  measures  in  Kansas.  He  claims 
thus  to  have  established  a  Permian  group  of  deposits 
in  that  region.  .  .  . 

I  am  now  surrounded  by  books  and  documents  on 
Terrestrial  Magnetism,  in  which  I  have  become  more 
interested  than  I  had  ever  been  before.  Some  weeks 
ago  I  took  up  inadvertently  some  experiments  on 
sonorous  flames,  which  have  occupied  Tyndall  and 
others  of  late,  and  hitting  upon  a  number  of  curious 
and  new  results,  I  have  been  anxious  to  complete  my 
little  piece  of  research.  I  am  now  resuming  these 
magnetic  studies,  and  am  desirous  of  drawing  up  a 
pretty  full  paper  on  the  subject,  but  shall  not  be  in 
time  for  your  April  number.2 

I  am  sorry  to  hear  such  news  of  good  Professor 
Gregory's  health.  His  kindness  and  simple  love  of 
truth  greatly  interested  me.  .  .  . 

Theodore  Parker,  whom  I  saw  a  few  days  ago,  asks 
very  earnestly  about  you.  Last  Sunday  I  heard  a  su- 
perb sermon  from  him.  He  is  quite  himself  again.  .  .  . 

My  health  has  been  on  the  whole  much  better  than 
a  year  ago,  though  my  old  troubles  do  not  suffer  me 
to  forget  them.  .  .  . 

1  Professor  G.  C.  Swallow,  State  Geologist  of  Missouri. 

2  The  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Journal,  of  which  Henry  was  one  of 
the  editors. 


386  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1858. 


TO   HIS    BROTHER   ROBERT. 

BOSTON,  March  9,  1858. 

.  .  .  Among  my  curious  new  experiments  on  flame 
are  the  following  :  — 

1.  I  simply  vibrate  the  jet-pipe  within  the  tube,  and 
the  silent  flame  becomes  at  once  sonorous. 

2.  When  the  flame  refuses  to  sing  by  other  modes 
of  excitement,  I  cause  it  at  once  to  commence  its  song 
by  sending  a  properly  graduated  current  of  air  up  the 
tube. 

3.  With  a  small  mechanism,   constructed  for  the 
purpose,  I  cause  the  jet-pipe,  with  its  flame,  to  revolve 
rapidly  in  the  tube.    When  silent,  the  flame,  of  course, 
presents  the  appearance  of  a  hollow  cylinder  of  light, 
but  as  soon  as  it  begins  to  sing,  the  upper  edge  be- 
comes serrated,    like  a  crown  wheel,  and  at  length 
almost  completely  divided  into  narrow  separate  col- 
umns arranged  in  circular  order,  thus  giving  us  a  very 
beautiful  proof  of  the  intermitting  combustion  of  the 
singing  flame. 

FROM   PROFESSOR   JAMES   D.    DANA. 

NEW  HAVEN,  March  17, 1858. 

I  thank  you  most  warmly  for  the  photograph  of 
your  trilobite.  It  is  exceedingly  fine.  Your  photo- 
lithographic illustrations  of  the  subject  will  make  a 
beautiful  suite  ;  the  effect  is  so  good  that  they  almost 
bring  the  old  world  back  again.  I  should  like  much 
to  make  room  for  your  paper  in  our  next,  and  regret 
to  say  that  our  printers  reported  to  me  two  days  since 
that  I  already  had  the  number  more  than  full.  ...  I 
wish  you  would  send  a  note  on  the  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  etc.,  rocks,  containing  the  views  in  your 
letter.  .  .  .  You  have  the  whole  subject  at  your  fin- 
gers' ends,  and  can  balance  rightly  the  pros  and  cons, 
and  a  notice  from  you  would,  therefore,  be  of  great 
value.  . 


JEr.  63.]  A    VACUUM  TUBE.  387 

I  am  glad  to  know  that  you  have  recovered  (for  so 
I  learn)  from  the  terrible  accident  that  befell  you  in 
England.  .  .  . 

Blake  is  at  No.  4  St.  Mark's  Place,  New  York  city. 
Brush  is  here  working  in  the  mineral  way.  He  has 
made  out  a  part  of  the  agalmatolite  of  China  to  be 
massive  pyrophyllite,  as  Malmstedt  had  done.  He 
sends  his  kind  regards. 

FROM  J.    G.   GASSIOT.1 

CLAPHAM  COMMON,  April  16, 1858. 

I  forward  per  post  half  a  dozen  copies  of  the  ab- 
stract of  my  paper,  which  you  may  present  to  any  of 
your  friends  who  take  an  interest  in  this  research. 

I  have  also  desired  Mr.  Casella  to  send  you  a 
tube.  .  .  . 

Private.  Your  brother  was  among  the  fifteen  se- 
lected yesterday  by  the  Council  of  the  Royal  Society. 
Do  not  take  any  notice  of  this ;  you  will  hear  of  it  in 
due  course. 

TO  J.   G.   GASSIOT. 

BOSTON,  July  2, 1858. 

On  coming  to  town  yesterday  I  was  delighted  to 
find  the  box  from  Mr.  Casella,  and  proceeded  with  all 
care  to  unwrap  its  precious  contents.  The  tube  was 
in  perfect  condition,  and  last  night  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  trying  it  with  a  coil  machine,  which  Mr.  Ritchie  had 
just  finished  for  one  of  our  Southern  universities.  The 
effects  were  wonderfully  beautiful.  I  shall  make  fur- 
ther experiments  with  it  in  the  various  ways  indicated 
by  you,  and  shall  give  my  scientific  friends  the  pleas- 
ure of  witnessing  these  novel  phenomena.  Let  me 
thank  you,  my  dear  Sir,  for  the  trouble  you  have 
taken  to  send  me  this  instrument,  and  for  the  instruc- 
tion and  pleasure  I  am  deriving  from  it.  May  I  ask  you, 
when  you  meet  Mr.  Casella,  to  return  my  acknow- 
ledgments for  his  care  in  transmitting  the  tube,  as  well 
as  for  the  printed  circular  which  he  enclosed. 

i  English  physicist  and  investigator  in  electricity. 


388  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1858. 

I  have  read  with  interest  your  account  of  Ritchie's 
induction  apparatus  in  the  "Philosophical  Magazine" 
just  received,  and  knowing  that  it  would  gratify  him, 
have  sent  it  to  him  for  perusal.  The  coil  used  last 
night  is  of  the  same  power  as  yours,  and  would  no 
doubt  by  urging  yield  a  spark  much  beyond  12 
inches.  I  observe  that  Ruhmkorff  has  recently  im- 
proved his  apparatus  so  as  to  obtain  from  it  a  spark 
nearly  as  long  as  that  from  Ritchie's  coil.  But  I  do 
not  understand  his  need  of  using  25  cells  for  the 
purpose. 

I  have  just  completed  a  description  of  curious  ex- 
periments upon  the  rings  formed  by  gases  and  liquids 
under  certain  conditions  of  intermittent  discharge, 
and  the  like  phenomena,  from  bursting  and  explod- 
ing bubbles.1  Hereafter  I  may  trouble  you  with 
some  of  the  details  which  have  been  quite  interesting 
to  me. 

Have  you  tried  Quet's  curious  experiment  on  the 
decomposition  of  carburetted  hydrogen  gas  by  the 
induction  current  ?  The  separation  of  the  carbon  at 
the  poles  only  is  very  interesting. 

We  are  greatly  disappointed  at  receiving  no  news 
of  the  Atlantic  cable,  and  have  come  to  the  unwel- 
come conclusion  that  the  attempt  has  failed.  But 
nevertheless  I  have  strong  confidence  in  its  ultimate 
success. 

I  am  glad  to  find  that  Moigno,  in  the  "  Cosmos," 
stands  up  manfully  for  Wheatstone's  claims  in  the 
great  invention  of  the  telegraph. 

Professor  Henry  Rogers  now  paid  a  brief  visit  to 
America  in  order  to  attend  to  matters  connected  with 
his  Geological  Survey  of  Pennsylvania. 

l  "  In  this  paper  Professor  Rogers  anticipated  some  of  the  later  re- 
sults of  Helmholtz  and  Sir  William  Thomson."  —  J.  P.  Cooke,  Proc. 
Am.  Acad.  vol.  xviii.  p.  426. 


JET.  53.]  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE.  389 


MB.  ROGERS  TO  HIS  BROTHER  ROBERT. 

SUNNY  HILL,  Saturday,  July  11,  1858. 

.  .  .  To-morrow  I  return  to  Boston,  where  I  shall 
remain  to  see  Henry  off.  I  shall  feel  very  sad  at 
parting  with  him,  perhaps  for  some  years,  but  I  be- 
lieve we  shall  all  be  the  happier  in  being  no  longer 
anxious  for  his  health,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  his 
success  abroad.  .  .  . 

I  send  you  a  copy  of  my  little  paper  on  sonorous 
flames,  as  printed  in  "  Silliman." 

Henry  has  recently  been  elected  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society.  I  do  not  know  that  it  has  been  pub- 
licly announced,  but  I  have  the  news  in  a  letter  from 
General  Portlock,  the  geologist,  who  is  a  member.  .  .  . 


TO  HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

SUNNY  HILL,  August  10,  1858. 

.  .  .  After  reading  the  exciting  narrative  of  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  of  the  earlier  trial,  I  had  al- 
most despaired  of  the  laying  of  the  cable  this  season, 
and  such  seems  to  have  been  the  prevailing  impression 
until  the  receipt  of  the  startling  news  of  the  arrival  of 
the  Niagara  at  Trinity  Bay,  and  of  the  success  of  the 
experiment.  I  recollect  no  event  since  the  news  of 
peace  in  1814,  of  which  I  have  a  vague  but  glad  impres- 
sion, which  has  been  received  with  such  an  acclamation 
of  delight  throughout  the  land.  Certainly  none  has 
given  so  unanimous  a  joy.  As  might  be  expected,  those 
immediately  instrumental  in  carrying  out  the  attempt 
receive  an  extravagant  share  of  laudation.  But  the 
scientific  labours  which  have  culminated  in  this  daz- 
zling result  will  soon  become  more  generally  known  and 
fairly  appreciated,  and  I  trust  that  Wheatstone  and 
his  British  colleagues  will  reap  their  full  share  of  the 
honours  of  this  grand  achievement.  To  Wheatstone 
certainly  belongs  the  credit  of  framing  a  plan  com- 


390  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1858. 

plete  in  nearly  all  respects  for  a  submarine  telegraph 
many  years  before  any  attempt  had  been  made  to  lay 
one.  When  with  him  last  autumn  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  his  original  drawings  and  plans,  which,  if 
capitalists  had  favoured,  would  have  secured  for  him 
an  acknowledged  priority  in  this  great  application. 
But  thus  it  is  often  with  the  most  inventive  genius, 
which  passes  too  rapidly  from  one  creation  to  another 
to  secure  to  itself  the  honour  or  profit  of  its  intellectual 
labours.  .  .  . 


TO   JAMES   SAVAGE,   JR.,  AT   HIS   FARM   IN   ASHLAND,    MASS. 

SUKNT  HILL,  Thursday  Morning,  September,  1858. 

Taking  pity  on  your  loneliness  this  morning,  I  send 
you  through  this  stormy  air  a  short  missive  telling  of 
our  continued  thought  of  you,  and  giving  you  the 
latest  news  of  our  wire. 

As  the  winds  were  mustering  for  this  great  equi- 
noctial review  all  day  yesterday,  we  had  good  oppor- 
tunity for  our  experiment.1  The  kite  soars  superbly 
with  all  the  string  and  an  equal  length  of  wire,  and 
has  force  enough  for  twice  as  much.  We  obtained 
many  pleasant  and  some  rather  severe  shocks,  of  which 
the  women-folks  had  a  share.  When  you  come  up 
next  month  we  shall  have  a  still  finer  display  in  one 
of  our  steady  nor' westers. 

The  peach-trees  this  morning  are  surging  to  and 
fro  like  a  stormy  sea,  and  I  suppose  have  been 
stripped  of  most  of  their  fruit,  but  the  storm  has 
not  allowed  me  yet  to  make  personal  inspection.  As 
usual  the  house  has  let  in  the  driving  rain  at  certain 
points,  and  we  are  entertained  by  the  musical  reso- 
nance of  sundry  tubs  and  buckets  made  vocal  by 
descending  drops.  .  .  . 

Our  games  of  football  were  of  the  feeblest  after 
your  departure.  But  E.  and  the  two  Fannys  per- 
formed surprisingly  in  an  impromptu  way  when  left 

1  Franklin's  famous  experiment. 


^T.  54.]  DONATFS  COMET.  391 

to  their  own  wild  wills.  Kobert  and  I  have  been 
contriving  optical  whirligigs  when  not  employed  in 
dragging  down  the  thunder. 

Now,  my  dear  Jim,  you  must  forthwith  respond  to 
this  bagatelle,  and  tell  us  all  about  your  doings  and 
musings  in  calm  or  storm. 

E.  and  the  rest  send  love. 

TO   HIS    BROTHER   HENRY. 

SUNNY  HILL,  September  21,  1858. 

.  .  .  Donati's  comet  is  now  a  fine  object  in  the 
evening  as  seen  from  our  hill. 

FROM   HIS    BROTHER   HENRY. 
BURLEY  WOOD.  NEAR  LEEDS,  October  1,  1858. 

.  .  .  The  meeting  of  the  Association  here  closed  on 
Wednesday,  and  yesterday  (Thursday)  the  members 
dispersed  on  several  pleasant  excursions. 

I  made  a  communication  upon  the  late  researches 
of  Meek  and  Hayden,  and  others,  stating  the  evidence 
for  and  against  their  Permian  in  Kansas.  The  gen- 
eral impression  of  the  geologists  is  that  the  so-called 
Permian  may  be  intermediate  between  the  Coal  meas- 
ures and  Permian  of  Europe,  and  Emmons's  facts  do 
not  convince  them  that  the  Carolina  beds  are  genuine 
Permian.  Do  send  me  an  original  communication  on 
your  more  recently  found  Richmond  coal  fossils  for 
the  January  number  of  the  "  Philosophical  Journal," 
and  let  Silliman  copy  it. 

I  am  staying  with  a  Mr.  Firth,  a  wealthy  merchant 
of  Leeds,  who  has  grown  rich  in  the  American  trade. 
He  and  his  family  have  treated  me  with  the  genuine 
English  hospitality,  and  you  know  what  that  means. 

TO   HIS   BROTHER   HENRY. 

SUNNY  HILL,  October  3,  1858. 

.  .  .  We  have  had  many  fine  opportunities  for  ob- 
serving the  comet  for  the  last  two  weeks.  Two  nights 


392  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1858. 

ago  we  were  favoured  by  that  perfectly  clear  state  of 
the  air  which  marks  a  cool  October  night,  and  I  sat 
watching  the  superb  train  for  upwards  of  an  hour, 
until,  in  fact,  the  bright  nucleus  had  sunk  below  the 
horizon,  leaving  the  train  still  distinctly  visible  through 
the  crystalline  atmosphere.  The  fluctuations  in  the 
extent  and  shape  of  the  train  early  struck  my  atten- 
tion, —  at  one  moment  we  see  it  suddenly  contract  in 
length  or  in  both  dimensions,  the  next  instant  it  flashes 
out  to  more  than  double  magnitude.  In  these  strange 
movements  the  light  frequently  spreads  out  fitfully  on 
the  lower  or  concave  side  of  the  train,  greatly  increas- 
ing its  breadth  for  some  distance,  and  then  as  sud- 
denly contracts  with  a  much  narrower  band. 

As  seen  on  the  night  of  the  2d  of  October,  it  had  the 
aspect,  when  largest,  of  a  magnificent  eagle-feather, 
having  a  gracefully  curving  outline  above,  but  a  less 
regular  and  defined  limit  beneath,  reaching,  with  its 
faintly  vanishing  end,  through  a  superb  ascending  arc 
to  near  the  end  of  the  tail  of  the  Great  Bear. 

1  TEMPLE  PLACE,  October  19, 1858. 

Wyman  told  me  yesterday  of  his  intention  to  go  to 
the  La  Plata  with  Bennett  Forbes,  who  is  taking  one 
of  his  own  ships  to  that  region  on  some  commercial 
enterprise.  Wyman's  health  has  again  become  very 
feeble,  which  forms  his  chief  inducement  for  this 
voyage,  but  he  will  make  it  profitable  in  the  way  of 
palaeontology  and  natural  history.  He  is  studying 
Darwin,  etc.,  by  way  of  preparation.  .  .  . 

How  much  pleasure,  my  dear  Henry,  you  have 
given  me  by  your  frequent  letters.  Do,  I  beg  of  you, 
continue  to  write  thus  often,  and  I  will  engage  to  send 
you  a  line  weekly  as  you  request.  I  do  not  permit 
myself  to  dwell  on  your  removal  to  a  distant  land,  or 
I  should  sometimes  grow  very  sad.  But  this  active 
interchange  will  seem  to  keep  us  linked  as  we  have 
ever  been  in  thought  as  well  as  affection.  .  .  . 


54.]  LOWELL  LECTURES.  393 


BOSTON,  November  2, 1858. 

.  .  .  Since  coming  to  town  I  have  been  much  occu- 
pied in  getting  up  preparations  for  my  Lowell  course.1 
As  I  shall  make  it  somewhat  experimental,  and  as  the 
material  at  the  Institute  proves  to  be  very  meagre,  I 
have  to  spend  much  time  in  contriving,  and  either 
constructing  or  getting  Ritchie  to  make,  means  of 
illustration.  Besides  which  I  have  many  plain  dia- 
grams to  draw  on  cloth.  .  .  . 

The  "  Philadelphia  Magazine "  republished  from 
"  Silliman's  "  some  months  ago  Le  Conte's  paper  on 
the  sonorous  jet,  with  his  speculation  about  the  cohe- 
sion of  the  gas  in  a  flame.  I  think  he  ought  to  have 
published  my  criticism  on  the  same,  of  which  I  sent 
him  a  copy,  and  which  you  have  so  recently  repub- 
lished in  your  last  "  Journal." 

I  thank  you,  my  dear  Henry,  for  the  interesting 
address  of  Professor  Owen,  which  treats  a  variety 
of  topics  with  great  ability.  I  confess,  however,  to 
some  surprise  at  the  readiness  with  which  he  adopts 
Faraday's  dreamy  notions  about  gravitation.  To  me 
it  seems  as  if  many  of  those  who  are  discussing  this 
question  of  the  conservation  of  force  are  plunging  into 
the  fog  of  mysticism.  I  like  Grove's  phrase,  "  corre- 
lation of  forces,"  better.  Faraday  would  incline,  I 
believe,  to  go  back  behind  inertia  to  find  some  power 
in  matter  to  produce  it,  and  yet  what  is  matter  but 
localized  inertia  ?  Are  we  not  in  danger  soon  of  pass- 
ing into  modes  of  discussion  which  will  be  but  a  mod- 
ern phasis  of  the  old  mysticism  ?  .  .  . 

BOSTON,  November  17,  1858. 

.  .  .  Whitcomb  2  tells  me  that  the  number  of  names 
recorded  since  yesterday  betokens  a  pretty  full  at- 

1  In  1858-59  Mr.  Eogers  gave  before  the  Lowell  Institute  a  course 
of  lectures  on  "  Water  and  Air  in  their  Mechanical,  Chemical,  and 
Vital  Relations." 

2  Janitor  of  the  Lowell  Institute. 


394  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1858. 

tendance.  ...  I  want  to  study  Owen's  address  with 
more  care  than  I  have  given  it.  Parts  quite  aston- 
ished, and  I  must  say  disappointed  me.  There  is  a 
good  deal  of  preaching  in  it,  and  what  seems  to  me 
unsound  philosophy.  There  is  nothing  new  here  ex- 
cept that  Mr.  Everett  has  agreed  to  supply  to  the 
"New  York  Ledger"  (circulation  over  100,000)  an 
article  every  week  on  some  general  topic,  and  has  re- 
ceived the  consideration  $10,000,  to  be  appropriated 
to  the  purchasing  of  Mt.  Vernon. 

I  have  been  able  to  repeat  Savart's  experiment  of 
musical  jets  of  water  with  great  success.  The  tones 
are  loud  and  exquisitely  smooth  and  swelling.  I  have 
also  prepared  for  my  first  lecture  a  cylinder  of  oil  sus- 
pended in  alco-water,  like  the  sphere  of  my  former 
experiment.  The  experiment  is  on  a  far  larger  scale 
than  anything  described  by  Plateau.  .  .  . 

BOSTON,  November  29,  1858. 

...  I  was  unable  to  write  by  the  last  steamer,  as  my 
first  lecture  demanded  my  thoughts  and  time.  It  went 
off  well,  although  the  extreme  inclemency  of  the  night 
made  the  audience  less  than  I  could  have  wished.  .  .  . 
In  a  late  number  of  the  "  Edinburgh  Review  "  I  find  a 
capital  article  on  the  stereoscope,  in  which  Sir  David 
is  properly  handled,  and  Wheatstone's  claims  are  fully 
vindicated.  I  am  sure  it  is  from  the  pen  of  Carpen- 
ter. Besides  the  physiological  views,  which  are  his, 
I  see  he  alludes  to  the  photograph  of  my  trilobite,  of 
which  I  gave  him  a  copy,  pointing  out  the  curious 
optical  effect  of  a  change  from  convex  to  concave  re- 
lief. ...  I  gave  Mr.  Appleton  your  message,  which 
pleased  him.  He  asked  most  kindly  after  you.  I  can- 
not tell  you,  my  dear  brother,  how  continually  I  miss 
your  society.  There  is  no  one  else  in  this  world  with 
whom  I  can  exchange  thoughts  and  share  the  process 
of  philosophic  meditation  but  with  you.  .  .  . 


-Ex.  54.]    HENRY'S  PENNSYLVANIA  REPORT.    395 


WEDNESDAY  MORNING,  December  10,  1858. 

.  .  .  E.  has  kept  her  letter  open  for  a  short  appen- 
dix from  me,  as  my  preparations  for  last  night's  ex- 
perimental lecture  deprived  me  of  the  opportunity  of 
writing  yesterday.  I  am  now  treating  of  the  mechan- 
ical properties  of  the  atmosphere,  and  have  found  the 
preparation  of  experiments,  with  the  imperfect  means 
at  command,  very  hard  work.  In  spite  of  a  rainy  sky, 
and  " Piccolomini "and  Bayard  Taylor  to  boot,  I  had 
quite  a  good  attendance,  and  indeed  throughout  my 
numbers  have  kept  up,  and  the  class  has  shown  strong 
interest  in  the  lectures. 

I  went  after  the  lecture  last  night  to  the  Academy 
meeting,  held  at  Judge  Shaw's,  the  first  I  have  at- 
tended for  a  long  time.  There  were  some  fifty  pres- 
ent, and  among  them  Peirce  and  Agassiz,  who  also 
made  their  first  appearance  after  a  long  interval.  .  .  . 

How  my  heart  leaped  up  on  hearing  by  Eliza's 
letter  that  the  Book  l  was  finished,  the  Magnum  Opus 
which  embodies  so  much  physical  toil  and  so  much 
brain- work.  But  think,  my  dear  brother,  what  a  re- 
ward you  have  in  the  memory  of  generations. 

The  President's  message  is  of  great  length,  and 
advocates  many  measures,  such  as  the  acquisition  of 
Cuba,  which  will  startle  foreign  powers,  and  excite 
great  opposition  at  home.  He  has  become  a  shame- 
less champion  of  the  slave  interest. 

BOSTON,  January  11,  1859. 

.  .  .  Lord  and  Lady  Radstock  are  still  here,  and 
likely  to  remain  several  weeks.  We  have  seen  her 
frequently,  and  think  her  a  most  charming  person.  I 
have  not  succeeded  in  meeting  him  as  often  as  I  de- 
sired, but  we  hope  to  have  him  to  dine  with  us  next 
week.  He  is  much  with  the  Ticknors,  and  seems  to 
have  been  busy  in  studying  the  schools  and  charitable 
institutions.  .  .  . 

1  Professor  Henry  Eogers's  Report  on  the  Geological  Survey  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 


396  FIRST   YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1859. 

You  will  be  pained  to  hear  that  Theodore  Parker 
is  now  prostrated  by  a  bleeding  at  the  lungs,  and  will, 
as  soon  as  he  is  able,  go  to  the  south  of  Europe.  His 
ardour  has  placed  him  in  this  peril.  For  while  quite 
an  invalid  he  prepared  for  the  Fraternity  lectures  two 
elaborate  discourses  lately,  on  Washington  and  John 
Adams,  the  last  of  which  he  read  only  a  week  ago  to 
a  great  crowd  at  the  Music  Hall.  They  were  mas- 
terly specimens  of  discriminating  and  manly  criticism. 
But  the  effort  has  brought  on  this  very  serious  attack. 
So  great  is  the  interest  felt  by  thousands  in  his  safety 
that  a  bulletin  is  hung  up  at  his  door  twice  every  day 
to  inform  friends  of  his  condition.  I  have  anxiously 
read  them  for  two  days.  They  report  that  he  is  com- 
fortable, but  requires  absolute  quiet  and  rest.  I  have 
therefore  not  ventured  to  ring  the  bell.  My  heart  is 
really  sad  when  I  think  of  the  possibly  permanent  in- 
jury he  has  sustained.  For  the  more  I  have  seen  of 
him,  the  more  I  have  learned  to  reverence  his  charac- 
ter and  admire  his  ability  and  multifarious  knowledge. 

BOSTON,  February  4,  1859. 

...  I  think  I  mentioned  in  my  last  that  the  trus- 
tees of  Frank  Gray  have  lately  conveyed  $50,000  to 
the  use  of  the  Agassiz  Museum,  the  interest  being 
devoted  to  the  maintenance  and  extension  of  the  col- 
lection. In  addition  to  this,  efforts  are  now  making 
to  secure  from  the  State  an  appropriation  of  $100,000 
for  the  erection  of  a  large  building  to  receive  the  col- 
lection, and  for  salaries  for  curators  in  the  several 
departments. 

Theodore  Parker  went  to  New  York  yesterday,  and 
will  sail  in  a  few  days  in  the  British  steamer  Karnac 
for  St.  Thomas  and  other  points  in  the  West  Indies. 
He  is  accompanied  by  his  wife,  Miss  Stevenson,  and 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Howe.  I  saw  him  about  two  weeks 
ago  for  a  few  minutes,  and  found  him  looking  better 
than  I  had  expected,  and  evidently  quite  hopeful  of 
a  recovery. 


Mi.  54.]  THEODORE  PARKER.  397 

I  have  never  known  an  instance  in  which  so  true  a 
concern  and  sympathy  moved  so  many  hearts.  In  my 
interview  he  spoke  most  affectionately  of  you,  and  he 
refers  to  you  again  in  touching  language  in  a  little 

rncil  note  which  he  left  for  me  before  his  departure, 
cannot  but  have  a  strong  hope  that  his  life  may 
be  prolonged  many  years,  and  that  he  may  be  able 
with  the  pen,  if  not  with  the  voice,  to  resume  his  place 
among  the  noblest  of  the  champions  of  humanity. 
There  is  no  one  here  to  fill  his  place.  He  expects, 
after  pausing  awhile  in  the  West  Indies,  to  go  to  Eu- 
rope, and  does  not  count,  under  the  most  favourable 
conditions,  on  coming  home  in  less  than  eighteen 
months.  He  spoke  of  the  pleasure  he  should  have  in 
meeting  with  you.  I  cannot  help  feeling  sad  as  I 
think  of  his  danger,  and  yet  he  has  already  done  nobly 
more  than  a  man's  work.  In  less  than  two  weeks  I 
shall  go  to  Virginia  where,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  I  com- 
mitted myself  to  giving  two  or  three  lectures. 

FROM  THEODORE  PARKER. 

BOSTON,  February  1,  1859. 

MY  DEAR  PROFESSOR  EOGERS,  —  I  return  Mr. 
Owen's  remarkable  pamphlet.  What  an  instructive 
thing  it  is !  I  should  have  been  surprised  that  it 
could  all  have  come  from  one  man  if  I  had  not  known 
yourself  and  your  brother,  who  in  such  matters  taught 
me  the  nil  admirari.  I  shall  buy  it  when  I  get  to 
London.  When  I  get  to  London!  I  hope  it  does  not 
sound  presumptuous  to  say  so !  Yet  I  know  how 
uncertain  my  life  is. 

Allow  me  to  thank  you  for  the  instruction  I  have 
received  from  you,  and  for  the  many  friendly  and 
noble  words  you  have  spoken  to  me.  My  acquaint- 
ance with  you  began  with  your  brother,  and  I  feel 
gratitude  to  you  both.  For  you  both  turn  your  deep, 
wide  science  into  Humanity.  I  have  found  you  both 


398  FIRST  YEARS  IN  BOSTON.  [1859. 

always  on  the  side  of  mankind  and  felt  strengthened 
and  encouraged  by  your  example. 

Please  remember  me  kindly  to  your  wife  and  bro- 
ther, and  believe  me, 

Faithfully  yours, 

THEODORE  PARKER. 

My  wife  and  Miss  Stevenson  join  in  kindly  greet- 
ings. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX  A.   (Page  240.) 

REPORT  FROM  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  SCHOOLS  AND  COL- 
LEGES [OF  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  VIRGINIA]  AGAINST 
THE  EXPEDIENCY  OF  WITHDRAWING  THE  FIFTEEN 
THOUSAND  DOLLARS  ANNUITY  FROM  THE  UNIVERSITY 
[OF  VIRGINIA]. 

1845. 

Doc.  No.  41. 

(Prepared  by  W.  B.  ROGERS,  Chairman  of  the  Faculty.) 
THE  Committee  of  Schools  and  Colleges  have  considered, 
according  to  order,  the  expediency  of  repealing  the  law 
allowing  an  annuity  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  from  the 
Literary  fund  to  the  University  of  Virginia;  and  have 
come  to  the  following  resolution  :  — 

Resolved,  That  it  is  inexpedient  to  repeal  the  said  Law. 

The  Committee  of  Schools  and  Colleges  having,  as  directed 
by  a  resolution  of  the  house  of  delegates,  passed  on  the  22d 
day  of  December,  1844,  carefully  investigated  the  past 
history  and  present  condition  and  influences  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  with  the  view  of  forming  their  opinion 
upon  the  question  of  "  repealing  the  Act  of  Assembly  grant- 
ing an  annuity  of  $15,000  "  to  that  institution,  beg  leave 
to  report  the  following  facts  and  considerations  as  the  result 
of  their  inquiries :  — 


400  APPENDIX. 

On  reverting  to  the  known  intentions  of  the  illustrious 
founder  of  the  University,  and  his  distinguished  colabourers, 
and  of  the  legislatures  by  whose  enlightened  liberality  it 
was  set  in  operation,  we  recognize  as  the  leading  object  of 
its  establishment  the  institution  of  a  higher  and  more 
thorough  system  of  intellectual  training  than  had  yet  been 
attempted  either  in  our  own  or  any  of  the  sister  States,  and 
through  this  means  the  introduction  of  a  better  intellectual 
culture  in  our  colleges,  academies  and  elementary  schools. 

In  the  period  of  twenty  years,  which  comprises  the  as 
yet  brief  history  of  the  University,  it  would  be  unreasonable 
to  expect  more  than  a  very  partial  attainment  of  all  the 
salutary  objects  which  inspired  the  hopes  of  its  founders. 
The  great  literary  institutions  of  the  Old  World,  which  now 
exercise  so  benign  an  influence  on  the  progress  of  letters 
and  of  general  education,  have  gathered  their  strength  to 
do  good  by  the  slow  growth  of  successive  ages ;  and 
although  in  our  own  time  and  country  more  speedy  effects 
are  to  be  anticipated,  because  wiser  and  more  practical 
methods  of  culture  are  adopted,  the  extensive  diffusion  of 
these  good  influences  through  the  public  mind  is  necessarily 
a  gradual,  though  a  continually  progressive  operation. 

That  the  University  has  been  successful  in  establishing 
within  our  borders  a  higher  and  more  thorough  system  of 
scientific  and  literary  training  than  had  previously  been 
accessible  anywhere  in  the  United  States,  is,  we  think, 
admitted  by  all  who  are  familiar  with  its  course  of  studies, 
and  with  the  influences  these  have  exerted  through  its  well- 
trained  alumni  on  the  methods  and  aims  of  academic 
teaching  in  many  sections  of  the  State.  In  proof  of  this, 
referring  in  the  first  place  simply  to  the  training  of  its  own 
students  in  literature  and  science,  whether  professionally  or 
with  general  objects,  we  would  call  attention  to  the  extent 
and  thoroughness  of  the  instruction  which  it  offers,  and  to 
the  system  of  intellectual  culture  it  adopts.  .  .  . 


APPENDIX.  401 

SYSTEM   OF   INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE. 

On  comparing  the  system  of  intellectual  culture  adopted 
in  this  institution  with  that  in  use  in  the  higher  seminaries 
of  learning  in  other  States,  we  remark  two  distinctive 
features  which  from  their  influence  upon  the  interests  of 
education,  may  be  deemed  worthy  of  especial  note.  The 
first  is  the  privilege  allowed  to  students  of  selecting  such 
studies  as  have  a  more  immediate  reference  to  the  pur- 
suits in  which  they  design  afterwards  to  engage,  and  the 
second,  the  practice  of  combining  to  an  unusual  extent, 
oral  instruction  in  the  form  of  lectures,  with  the  use  of 
text-books. 

It  should  here  be  added  that  many  years  before  the 
establishment  of  the  University,  the  privilege  of  an  election 
of  studies  was  allowed  at  William  and  Mary.  Within  her 
venerable  precincts  liberal  methods  of  instruction  found  a 
home  long  before  they  were  adopted  by  the  thronged  and 
applauded  colleges  of  New  England ;  and  in  her  halls  were 
delivered  by  Bishop  Madison  the  first  regular  courses  of 
lectures  on  physical  science  and  political  economy,  ever 
given  in  the  United  States. 

Election  of  Studies.  The  former  of  these  peculiarities 
of  system  originating  in  a  wise  regard  to  the  practical  wants 
of  society,  has  been  found  well  adapted  to  the  genius  of 
our  country,  and  at  the  same  time  eminently  favourable 
to  that  thoroughness  of  knowledge  which  in  a  just  plan  of 
education  is  even  more  important  than  variety  of  attain- 
ment. In  virtue  of  this  system  the  student  preparing  for 
divinity,  law  or  medicine  is  enabled  to  secure  substantial 
attainments  in  ethics,  metaphysics  and  political  economy, 
or  in  chemistry  and  general  physics ;  the  young  engineer, 
in  mathematics,  mechanics  and  geology ;  and  the  incipient 
teacher,  in  the  languages,  mathematics,  belles-lettres  and 
such  other  portions  of  knowledge  as  will  accomplish  him 
for  his  intended  pursuits ;  while  in  neither  case  is  he 


402  APPENDIX. 

required  to  spend  his  resources  and  his  time  in  the  acquire- 
ment of  branches  which   are  but   slightly  related  to  the 


Nor  does  the  privilege  thus  granted  often  lead,  on  the 
part  of  those  who  aim  at  a  general  education,  to  a  neglect 
of  the  more  indispensable  branches  of  study,  since  custom 
has  established  a  particular  order  of  studies  to  which,  with 
some  modifications,  the  great  majority  conform.  Besides, 
all  are  aware  that,  although  a  separate  diploma  is  conferred 
in  each  department,  nothing  short  of  a  full  and  thorough 
course  in  all  the  academic  schools  can  prepare  the  student 
for  the  highest  honours  to  which  he  may  aspire. 

It  is  not  unworthy  of  remark  that  the  advantages  of  such 
an  election  of  studies,  clearly  evinced  in  the  experience  of 
the  University,  have  been  substantially  recognized  of  late 
by  the  adoption  at  Harvard,  and  we  believe  other  promi- 
nent institutions  abroad,  of  a  similar  feature,  to  replace  the 
Procrustes  system  hitherto  in  general  use.  But  we  may 
be  allowed  to  add  that,  while  engrafting  upon  their  old 
established  methods  this  liberal  improvement,  they  have 
allowed  much  latitude  of  election  even  to  their  candidates 
for  the  higher  honours,  and,  thus  departing  from  the  stern 
requisitions  of  our  University,  have  held  out  inducements  to 
the  student  to  choose  his  studies  rather  in  accordance  with 
his  fancy  or  love  of  ease,  than  with  the  claims  of  a  rigorous 
mental  discipline  and  a  more  profound  and  thorough  schol- 
arship. 

Instruction  by  Lectures  along  with  Text-Books.  Ad- 
verting now  to  the  other  distinctive  feature  in  the  system 
of  the  University,  the  extensive  use  of  lectures  as  a  means 
of  training  and  instruction,  we  would  in  the  first  place  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  distinguished  scholars  abroad 
agree  in  regarding  this  mode  of  teaching  as  the  most 
valuable  improvement  in  the  plan  of  university  instruction 
witnessed  in  modern  times,  and  that  they  ascribe  to  its 
inciting  influences,  both  upon  teachers  and  their  pupils, 


APPENDIX.  403 

much  of  that  marvellous  advancement  in  letters  and  science 
which  has  made  so  many  of  the  seats  of  learning  of  the  Old 
World  the  renowned  centres  of  a  knowledge  no  less  benefi- 
cent than  bright. 

The  advantages  of  an  extensive  use  of  this  method  in 
association  with  text-books,  as  compared  with  the  old  and 
still  very  usual  practice  of  exclusive  text-book  study  and 
recitation,  although  as  yet  but  imperfectly  recognized  in 
many  of  the  colleges  in  this  country,  must,  we  think, 
become  apparent  from  considering,  first,  the  greater  impres- 
siveness  of  knowledge  orally  conveyed,  and  secondly,  the 
more  wholesome  discipline  of  the  faculties  which  such  a 
method  renders  habitual. 

Respecting  the  former  of  these  considerations  it  may  be 
enough  to  add  that  this  greater  force  and  permanency  of 
the  impressions  made  upon  the  mind  by  the  teachings  of  the 
lecturer,  proceeding  from  a  very  simple  law  of  our  mental 
organization,  is  exemplified  by  the  familiar  experience  of 
all,  as  well  in  the  lessons  imparted  to  infancy  by  maternal 
lips  as  in  the  oral  instructions  descending  from  the  forum, 
the  pulpit  and  the  bar.  In  proof  of  the  prevailing  convic- 
tion on  this  subject  in  Europe  as  well  as  at  home,  reference 
might  be  made  to  the  eagerness  with  which  crowds  of  all 
classes  of  society  gather  around  the  desk  of  the  distin- 
guished expounder  of  philosophy,  science  or  taste,  and  the 
earnest  activity  of  thought  with  which  they  analyze  and 
assimilate  the  knowledge  he  imparts.  Indeed,  so  highly  is 
this  method  of  teaching  valued  at  the  present  day,  that, 
while  it  has  been  made  a  prominent  feature  in  the  system 
of  all  the  most  active  and  successful  institutions  of  learning 
in  the  Old  World,  and  has  been  legitimately  applied  as  a 
most  efficient  mean  of  popular  instruction  by  the  learned 
and  wise,  it  has  not  unfrequently  been  spuriously  employed 
to  deceive  the  simple  and  to  tax  the  purses  and  the  cre- 
dulity of  the  uninformed. 

In  judging  of  its  good  influences  we  should  bear  in  mind 


404  APPENDIX. 

that  they  show  themselves  as  much  in  the  increased  viva- 
city, clearness  and  originality  of  thought  excited  in  the 
teacher  as  in  the  quickened  apprehension  and  sharpened 
criticism  of  those  whom  he  instructs,  and  that  thus  by  a 
reactive  sympathy  of  thought  the  one  becomes  better  quali- 
fied to  teach,  and  the  other  more  ready  fully  to  appropriate 
the  lessons  he  receives.  It  is  true  that,  unaided  by  the 
systematic  study  of  well-selected  books,  mere  lectures  alone 
would  prove  but  an  ineffective  means  of  thorough  collegiate 
instruction.  But  when  united  with  the  daily  or  occasional 
study  of  a  text-book,  they  conduce,  as  we  think,  to  a  more 
wholesome  discipline  of  the  faculties  than  any  other  col- 
legiate system  could. 

On  comparing  this  union  of  the  two  means  of  instruction, 
that  of  the  lecture-room  and  the  closet,  as  in  use  at  the 
University,  with  the  almost  exclusive  system  of  text-book 
teaching,  which  characterizes  the  method  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  our  colleges,  it  will  readily  appear  that  from  the 
very  nature  of  the  two  methods,  they  must  exert  entirely 
different  influences  in  the  mental  training  of  the  pupil. 

Experience  has  amply  shown  that  a  large  proportion  of 
the  students  at  academies  and  higher  institutions,  where 
book  lessons  are  confided  in  too  much,  fall  into  a  mechani- 
cal routine  of  unreflecting  labour,  and,  discovering  that  it 
is  easier  to  remember  words  than  to  analyze  and  compare 
ideas,  cease  to  apply  the  higher  faculties  of  thought  to  the 
subject  of  their  studies.  And  even  where  this  worst  of  all 
the  abuses  of  scholastic  training  does  not  follow,  we  but  too 
generally  find  them  resting  with  implicit  confidence  on  the 
reasonings,  and  resorting  to  the  very  language,  of  their 
book,  without  so  much  as  daring  to  frame  for  themselves 
other  arguments  or  illustrations,  or  even  imagining  that 
such  are  to  be  discovered.  Thus  habitually  leaning  upon 
the  thoughts,  and  repeating  the  words  of  others,  accustomed 
to  be  satisfied  with  whatever  stands  in  verbis  magistri, 
their  powers  of  thought  are  but  imperfectly  developed, 


APPENDIX.  405 

and  whatever  of  invention  they  may  have  had  is  enfeebled 
or  paralyzed  by  disuse.  Inured  to  influences  such  as  these, 
and  scarcely  permitted  to  walk  alone,  how  little  is  the  mind 
prepared  for  that  vigorous  and  independent  exercise  of  its 
powers  demanded  in  the  pursuits  of  life,  and  how  utterly 
unfit  for  the  hardy  achievements  of  original  and  inventive 
genius ! 

Glancing  now  at  the  other,  and  as  we  believe  far  better 
method  of  instruction,  we  discern  a  different  order  of 
effects.  Here  the  pupil  accustomed  in  the  lectures  of  his 
teacher  to  hear  doubtful  questions  discussed,  and  to  see 
new  proofs  and  illustrations  given  of  established  truths, 
catches  the  enthusiasm  of  critical  or  inventive  thought, 
and  learns  to  reason  and  to  demonstrate  for  himself. 
Taught  by  his  own  efforts  rightly  to  value  the  systems  of 
philosophy  and  science,  and  the  productions  of  taste,  which 
have  been  wrought  out  by  the  master-minds  of  our  race, 
he  acquires  a  deep  reverence  for  their  authority,  because  it 
is  the  authority  of  truth.  But  along  with  this  modest 
deference  to  the  oracles  of  knowledge,  he  cherishes  that 
manly  self-dependence  of  thought  which  springs  from  the 
conscious  vigour  due  to  the  free  training  of  his  faculties ; 
and  when  he  quits  the  halls  of  his  alma  mater,  he  carries 
with  him  the  spirit  of  an  intellectual  freeman  beneath  the 
bright  insignia  of  his  first  literary  achievement. 

HONOI7RARY  DEGREES   NOT   GRANTED  AT   THE   UNIVERSITY. 

While  referring  to  those  features  in  the  organization  of 
the  University  which  distinguish  it  from  most  of  the  lead- 
ing institutions  in  this  country,  and  which  are  regarded  by 
its  friends  as  among  its  highest  merits,  it  is  appropriate  to 
state  that  by  an  express  law  its  authorities  are  forbidden 
to  grant  honourary  degrees,  and  that  accordingly  no 
diploma  of  compliment  has  ever  yet  received  its  imprima- 
tur. In  most  other  colleges  and  universities,  as  is  well 
known,  such  honours  are  extended  not  only  to  those  who 


406  APPENDIX. 

have  earned  some  reputation  in  divinity,  medicine  or  law, 
or  even  in  the  uncongenial  pursuits  of  party  politics,  but  are 
accorded,  as  of  course,  in  the  case  of  Master  of  Arts,  after 
the  interval  of  a  few  years,  to  all  who  have  taken  their 
first  academical  degree.  Rejecting  a  system  so  little 
friendly  to  true  literary  advancement,  the  legislators  of 
the  University  have,  we  think,  wisely  made  their  highest 
academic  honour,  that  of  Master  of  Arts  of  the  University 
of  Virginia,  the  genuine  test  of  diligent  and  successful  lit- 
erary training,  and,  disdaining  such  literary  almsgiving, 
have  firmly  barred  the  door  against  the  demands  of  spuri- 
ous merit  and  noisy  popularity.  .  .  . 

ALLEGED   EXTRAVAGANT   INCOMES   OF   THE   PROFESSORS. 

Among  the  complaints  made  against  the  University,  we 
sometimes  hear  it  urged  that  the  incomes  of  the  professors 
are  extravagantly  large,  and  that  a  regard  to  republican 
moderation  as  well  as  a  cheapening  of  the  expenses  of 
instruction  require  them  to  be  reduced.  In  the  last  four 
sessions,  including  the  one  now  in  progress,  the  average 
income  of  all  the  professors  has  been  very  nearly  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

In  the  session  of  1841-42 $2,300 

of  1842-43 2,250 

of  1843-44 2,150 

of  1844-45 2,350 

It  thus  appears  that  the  average  for  the  whole  period  of 
four  sessions  may  be  set  down  at  $2,300  for  each  pro- 
fessor. That  this  sum  exceeds  the  income  of  the  profes- 
sors in  a  number  of  our  literary  institutions,  is  undoubtedly 
true.  But  it  is  equally  certain  that  it  does  not  surpass, 
and  in  many  instances  falls  short  of  that  of  the  teachers 
generally  in  seminaries  of  distinguished  literary  rank. 
Thus  the  receipts  of  those  professors  who  are  steadily  em- 
ployed in  a  full  course  of  duty  in  Cambridge,  in  Columbia 


APPENDIX.  407 

College  New  York,  at  West  Point,  in  the  collegiate 
department  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  of  several 
of  those  in  Princeton,  in  the  University  of  South  Carolina, 
and  several  other  institutions  in  the  Southern  States,  are  as 
great  and  in  many  instances  greater  than  are  received  by 
the  professors  of  our  University.  And  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  comparative  cheapness  of  the  means  of 
living  and  of  the  prevailing  habits  of  society  has  the 
effect  of  bringing  the  smaller  emoluments  of  the  teachers 
in  many  of  the  New  England  and  Western  colleges  more 
nearly  to  an  equality  with  the  receipts  of  those  elsewhere 
who  are  more  liberally  paid. 

It  should  also  be  remarked  that  in  many  of  our  institu- 
tions the  numerous  tutors  who  share  the  inferior  duties  of 
the  professors,  and  thus  greatly  lighten  their  toils,  divide 
the  emoluments  of  the  department,  and  thus  very  properly 
reduce  the  incomes  of  the  principal  instructors  in  a  ratio 
somewhat  corresponding  to  the  diminution  of  their  labours. 
At  our  University,  on  the  contrary,  the  tasks  of  tutor  and 
professor  fall  upon  the  same  individual ;  and  those  who  are 
familiar  with  the  daily  routine  of  instruction,  especially  in 
some  of  its  schools,  well  know  the  unceasing  drudgery  it 
involves.  Comparing  the  emoluments  at  Cambridge  and 
most  other  prominent  institutions  with  those  at  the  Univer- 
sity, as  bestowed  upon  each  leading  department  or  school, 
it  will  be  found  that,  for  the  amount  of  laborious  teaching 
they  perform,  the  professors  at  the  University  are  less  liber- 
ally rewarded  than  their  brethren  at  any  of  the  institutions 
in  view.  In  a  word,  the  full  circle  of  instruction  in  any 
one  school  or  department  is  really  obtained  at  much  less 
cost  at  the  University  than  by  their  complex  system  it  can 
be  with  them. 

But  we  turn  to  another  view  of  the  question,  comporting, 
we  think,  better  with  right  conceptions  of  the  high  interests 
it  involves.  The  qualifications  which  fit  a  professor  for  the 
duties  of  any  chair  at  a  distinguished  seat  of  science  and 


408  APPENDIX. 

letters  are  such  as  are  won  only  by  long  years  of  studious 
labour,  and  of  abstinence  from  pleasing  relaxations  of 
society.  They  are  the  mingled  fruits  of  genius  and  perse- 
verance, matured  often  at  the  cost  of  health  and  generally 
by  the  sacrifice  of  many  a  plan  of  easy  self-advancement. 
They  are  the  gathered  treasures  wrought  with  anxious  toil 
from  amid  the  deep  labyrinths  of  thought  to  be  sent  abroad 
with  the  impress  of  truth  as  a  precious  part  of  the  intel- 
lectual currency  of  the  world. 

Are  qualifications  thus  rare,  difficult  of  attainment,  and 
valuable  in  application,  to  be  estimated  as  but  of  little 
price  ?  Compared  with  the  easy  training  which  prepares 
men  for  the  ordinary  vocations  of  life,  they  are  surely 
worthy  of  at  least  an  equal  remuneration.  Be&ides,  we 
should  remember  the  toil  and  confinement  of  the  professor, 
as  well  in  his  closet  as  in  the  presence  of  his  class,  in  form- 
ing our  estimate  of  the  value  of  his  services.  Yet  with  all 
his  hard-earned  acquirements  in  science  and  letters,  and 
his  daily  exhausting  labours  of  instruction  and  discipline, 
his  emoluments  at  the  University,  thus  alleged  to  be  extrav- 
agant, will  scarcely  vie  with  those  of  the  middle  class  of 
lawyers,  physicians  and  merchants  in  any  of  the  thriving 
communities  of  our  country. 

The  cultivators  of  letters  and  science,  eminently  social 
in  their  activity,  and  especially  so  in  modern  times,  nat- 
urally seek  the  incentives  and  rewards  of  their  efforts  in 
the  wide  circle  of  emulous  spirits  gathered  in  the  larger 
cities.  Nor  can  we  expect  that  small  pecuniary  induce- 
ments will  suffice  to  tempt  the  really  worthy  of  their  num- 
ber to  exchange  such  congenial  scenes  for  the  isolation  of  a 
professor's  chair,  even  though  it  be  one  in  our  honoured 
University.  Even  the  more  liberal  compensation  formerly 
given  has  proved,  as  is  well  known,  insufficient  in  some 
instances  to  secure  the  services  of  distinguished  scholars 
invited  to  its  halls,  and  has  not  prevented  the  resignation 
of  many  professors  who  had  for  a  time  filled  its  stations 


APPENDIX.  409 

with  undenled  success.  To  stint  their  emoluments  then 
would  be  at  once  to  exclude  from  its  chairs  the  command- 
ing abilities  and  attainments  necessary  to  accomplish  the 
high  ends  for  which  it  was  established,  to  paralyze  the 
living  spirit  of  its  organization,  and  to  degrade  this  noble 
institution  into  a  cumbrous  machine  for  class-book  recita- 
tions and  superficial,  though,  it  might  be,  plausible,  aca- 
demic routine. 

ENDOWMENT    OF    THE    UNIVERSITY    AS    COMPARED    WITH 
OTHER   INSTITUTIONS   OF   LIKE   RANK. 

In  claiming  from  the  Commonwealth  a  continuance  of 
the  pecuniary  help  heretofore  accorded  to  her,  the  Univer- 
sity only  asks,  in  behalf  of  the  great  interests  of  education, 
for  that  just  and  reasonable  support  which  is  essential  to 
the  discharge  of  her  peculiar  functions  in  the  intellectual 
training  of  the  youth  of  the  State.  If  this  higher  and 
more  thorough  training  be  really  as  important  to  the  wel- 
fare and  honour  of  the  community  as  the  wise  and  patriotic 
of  our  own  and  other  countries  have  uniformly  maintained, 
then  Virginia  cannot,  without  grave  injury  to  her  interests 
and  her  reputation,  dispense  with  such  an  institution  as  her 
University.  It  only  remains  to  be  considered  at  what  rate, 
compared  with  other  communities,  she  purchases  these 
precious  advantages.  On  this  point  we  do  not  hesitate  to 
say  that,  adverting  to  the  great  comprehensiveness  of  the 
scheme  of  actual  instruction  in  the  University,  and  compar- 
ing her  income  with  that  of  other  prominent  institutions 
sustained  either  by  public  liberality  or  private  munificence, 
her  annuity  of  $15,000  cannot  be  regarded  as  more  than  a 
merely  moderate  endowment. 

The  most  richly  endowed  universities  of  this  country 
cannot  be  compared  in  their  resources  with  the  long-estab- 
lished institutions  of  Europe.  Cambridge  and  Oxford  in 
England,  and  the  University  of  Edinburgh  in  Scotland,  are 
possessed  of  incomes  the  accumulated  growth  of  ages, 


410  APPENDIX. 

which  vie  with  the  revenues  of  some  of  the  most  opulent 
States  of  the  Union,  and  which  far  exceed  the  aggregate 
income  of  all  the  universities  and  colleges  in  our  land. 
Many  of  the  German  universities  have  resources  almost 
equally  extensive,  and  there  is  probably  not  one  of  them  of 
reputation  whose  means  do  not  exceed  that  of  any  univer- 
sity or  college  in  the  United  States.  In  most  of  them  the 
professors  and  other  officers,  forming  a  very  numerous 
corps,  receive  their  salaries  directly  from  the  government, 
and  are  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  official  organization  of 
the  State. 

Referring  to  the  institutions  of  our  own  State,  we  find 
William  and  Mary  and  Washington  colleges  each  provided 
with  a  permanent  fund  yielding  an  income,  which,  consid- 
ering the  scale  of  operations  in  the  two  cases,  is  as  large,  if 
not  larger,  than  that  of  the  University.  The  University  of 
South  Carolina,  endowed  by  the  State,  and  formerly  enti- 
tled to  an  annuity  of  about  $12,000,  is,  we  believe,  at 
present  receiving  the  same  or  a  greater  sum  from  the  pub- 
lic treasury.  Two  of  the  collegiate  institutions  in  Louisi- 
ana have  been  sustained  by  an  annuity  of  $15,000  each, 
and  the  University  of  Alabama  is  supported,  we  believe, 
by  a  still  ampler  contribution ;  while  several  of  the  institu- 
tions of  the  Northwestern  States,  richly  provided  for  by 
grants  of  land,  are  beginning  to  receive  or  are  already 
enjoying  valuable  and  daily  augmenting  resources.  The 
permanent  income  of  Columbia  College,  New  York,  is,  we 
understand,  but  little,  if  at  all,  inferior  to  that  of  our 
University ;  while  the  revenue  of  Harvard,  the  institution 
most  justly  compared  with  ours,  is  not  much  short  of 
$60,000. 

With  these  facts  in  view,  the  annuity  of  $15,000,  instead 
of  appearing  wastefully  large,  cannot  fail  to  be  regarded 
as  but  a  very  moderate  contribution  in  behalf  of  the  high 
literary  interests  devolved  upon  the  University.  Indeed, 
considering  the  expansive  scheme  of  its  instructions,  and 


APPENDIX.  4H 

the  substantial  literary  merits  which  have  given  it  so  dis- 
tinguished a  place  among  the  higher  seminaries  of  our 
country,  this  annual  provision  might  justly  be  viewed  as  a 
comparatively  meagre  endowment,  which,  though  large 
enough  perhaps  for  the  present  literary  wants  of  our  com- 
munity, may  hereafter  be  augmented  with  great  benefit  to 
the  Commonwealth. 

It  may  perhaps  be  objected  that,  as  the  fixed  revenue  of 
Harvard,  and  some  other  institutions  above  mentioned,  is 
derived  from  the  munificence  of  individual  benefactors, 
and  therefore  makes  no  call  upon  the  treasury  of  the  State, 
it  is  unfair  to  adduce  the  example  of  these  seats  of  learn- 
ing in  support  of  the  claims  of  the  University.  But  our 
argument,  of  course,  supposes  that  an  institution  such  as 
the  university  is  demanded  by  the  highest  interests  as  well 
as  the  reputation  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  we  have 
referred  to  these  other  distinguished  seminaries  only  for 
the  purpose  of  showing  at  what  general  cost  such  an  insti- 
tution can  be  maintained. 

At  the  establishment  of  the  University,  the  hope  was  no 
doubt  indulged  that  sooner  or  later  it  also  would  become  an 
object  of  private  benefaction ;  but  we  have  not  the  slightest 
ground  for  supposing  that  in  the  patriotic  aspirations  of  its 
founders  these  private  endowments,  should  they  accrue, 
were  ever  looked  to  as  a  means  of  withdrawing  the  Univer- 
sity from  legislative  control,  by  dispensing  with  the  annual 
bounty  of  the  State.  It  would  on  some  accounts  certainly 
be  desirable,  were  our  University,  like  Harvard  and  several 
others,  sustained  entirely  or  in  great  part  by  funds  derived 
from  the  munificence  of  individuals.  But  it  should  not 
be  forgotten  that,  while  by  this  means  the  public  would  be 
relieved  from  the  annual  contribution  now  required,  the 
general  interests  of  the  community,  as  affected  by  the  oper- 
ations of  the  institution,  would  be  either  wholly  neglected 
or  but  partially  secured.  The  entire  government  and 
organization  devolving  upon  self-elective  boards  of  trustees, 


412  APPENDIX. 

irresponsible  to  the  State,  would  of  necessity  be  exposed  to 
the  narrowing  influences  springing  from  the  predilections 
and  prejudices  of  religious  sects  and  classes  of  society; 
and  the  University,  by  an  easy  transition  losing  the  liberal 
features  of  a  school  suited  equally  to  all,  would  become  the 
property  and  the  spoiled  favourite  of  a  particular  denomi- 
nation or  rank. 


APPENDIX  B.   (Page  249.) 
STUDENT  KIOTS  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA. 

A  Circular  Letter  prepared  and  issued  by  W-  B.  ROGERS,  Chairman 
of  the  Faculty. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  April  29,  1845. 

SIR,  —  The  Faculty  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  com- 
plying with  the  recommendation  of  the  Board  of  Visitors, 
and  urged  by  a  sense  of  duty  to  the  parents  and  guardians 
of  the  youth  committed  to  their  care,  beg  leave  to  present  a 
brief  history  of  the  disorders  which  for  some  time  disturbed 
the  peace,  and  if  not  arrested  would  have  endangered  the 
safety  of  the  University.  They  hope  thereby  to  disabuse 
the  public  mind  of  any  false  impressions  produced  by 
erroneous  statements  propagated  through  the  public  prints 
or  otherwise. 

The  session  for  the  first  months  was  peaceful,  and  a  large 
proportion  of  the  students  evinced  a  laudable  diligence  in. 
their  studies.  The  few  cases  of  discipline  which  occurred, 
requiring  the  serious  action  of  the  Faculty,  were  violations 
of  the  law  prohibiting  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors ;  and 
in  these  the  penalty  imposed  was  indulgently  remitted  in 
consideration  of  pledges  given  by  the  offenders,  and  a  large 
number  of  other  students,  to  abstain  from  intoxicating 
drinks  throughout  the  session. 

Early  in  the  winter,  a  number  of  students  organized 
themselves  into  a  company,  and,  furnishing  themselves  with 
horns  and  various  instruments  with  which  to  produce  loud 
and  discordant  noises,  and  wholly  or  in  part  disguised, 
paraded  the  lawn  and  other  parts  of  the  precincts,  at  a  late 


414  APPENDIX. 

hour  of  the  night,  disturbing  the  peace  and  good  order  of 
the  University. 

These  parades  occurred  at  irregular  intervals  of  about  a 
fortnight,  but,  however  pernicious  in  their  effects  on  the 
discipline  and  character  of  the  University,  were  not  at- 
tended by  any  outrages  on  the  private  dwellings  or  the 
public  property.  And  the  combination,  now  ascertained  to 
have  comprised  a  number  of  otherwise  exemplary  students, 
is  said  to  have  been  informally  dissolved  before  the  first 
occasion  of  outrage  committed.  This  occasion  was  the 
24th  of  February,  when  the  suspension  of  three  students 
for  disorderly  conduct  at  one  of  the  hotels  was  immedi- 
ately followed  by  a  parade  at  night  of  a  like  band,  but 
more  noisy  and  more  numerous,  attended  by  attacks  on  the 
dwelling  of  the  Chairman  and  the  hotel  referred  to,  in 
the  course  of  which  a  door  and  windows  were  broken. 

An  interval  of  some  three  weeks  occurred,  during  which 
there  was  no  disturbance ;  but  from  this  time  forth,  screen- 
ing themselves  from  detection  by  perfect  disguise,  and 
combining  in  larger  numbers,  with  multiplied  means  of 
annoyance,  one  or  more  bands  at  short  intervals  of  time 
disturbed  late  at  night  the  peace  of  the  University,  super- 
adding  to  other  annoyances  violence  done  to  private  dwell- 
ings and  public  property. 

To  show  the  spirit  of  insubordination  and  violence  which, 
advancing  step  by  step,  at  last  exhibited  itself  in  nightly 
riot  and  outrage,  it  may  be  enough  to  mention  some  of  the 
more  violent  acts  of  the  last  few  weeks. 

On  one  occasion,  stones  and  other  small  missiles  were 
thrown  against  the  parlour  windows  of  a  professor's  dwell- 
ing while  ladies  were  sitting  in  the  room.  On  another 
occasion,  persons  wearing  the  usual  disguise,  and  employing 
for  the  purpose  of  annoyance,  besides  pistol  firing,  the 
implements  of  the  organized  band  of  disturbers,  galloped 
through  the  alleys  and  arcades  of  the  University  on  horses, 
two  of  which  had  been  obtained  by  breaking  open,  at  a 


APPENDIX.  415 

late  hour  of  the  night,  the  stable  of  the  Proctor.  On  the 
Sabbath,  the  13th  of  April,  in  the  open  day,  and  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  University  buildings,  two  persons, 
of  whom  one  had  lately  withdrawn  from  the  Institution, 
and  the  other  was  a  student,  engaged  in  a  horse  race,  at 
which  their  friends  attended  and  betted  on  the  result.  It 
need  scarcely  be  added  that  the  names  of  the  chief 
offenders  having  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Faculty, 
the  one  who  was  amenable  to  our  laws  was  immediately 
dismissed  from  the  Institution.  On  Monday,  and  again  on 
Wednesday  night,  the  band  of  disturbers  repeated  their 
acts  of  insubordination  and  outrage  ;  on  both  occasions,  the 
dwellings  of  several  Professors  were  attacked,  and  in  the 
latter  case  more  violently,  the  windows  of  two  of  the  houses 
being  broken,  and  the  doors  of  these  and  others  struck. 
The  nights  of  Thursday,  Friday  and  Saturday  were  marked 
by  more  unrestrained  outrages,  in  which,  in  addition  to  the 
attacks  made  on  the  dwellings  of  some  of  the  Professors, 
by  striking  and  breaking  windows  and  door  panels,  as 
before,  two  doors  of  the  Rotunda  were  forced,  some  of  its 
windows  broken,  and  the  door  of  a  lecture-room  burst 
open. 

During  Friday  and  Saturday,  the  18th  and  19th,  efforts 
were  made  to  engage  the  body  of  the  students  to  discounte- 
nance these  outrages,  and  by  expressing  their  disapproba- 
tion, to  aid  in  arresting  them :  but  these  efforts  were  totally 
unsuccessful.  They  were  met  by  indifference  on  the  part 
of  some ;  others  who  had  themselves  been  implicated  in 
the  disturbances  made  by  the  first  band,  or  had  friends 
implicated,  unhesitatingly  refused,  on  this  account,  to  join 
in  any  expression  of  disapprobation,  however  mild,  of  the 
later  outrages ;  and  those  who  were  more  or  less  concerned 
in  these  outrages,  it  was  well  understood,  went  so  far  as  to 
threaten  with  personal  injury  any  of  their  fellow-students 
who  should  venture  to  attend  a  meeting  to  condemn  these 
acts  of  violence.  Even  a  simple  resolution  not  to  continue 


416  APPENDIX. 

the  riotous  proceedings  found  no  adequate  support,  and  the 
comparatively  small  number  who  were  anxious  to  restore 
good  order  were  compelled  to  yield  to  circumstances  which 
they  could  not  control. 

As  early  as  Friday,  the  18th,  the  Faculty  sent  for  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Visitors,  that  they 
might  avail  themselves  of  their  counsel.  On  Saturday  it 
was  ascertained  that  the  immediate  attendance  of  the 
Executive  Committee  could  not  be  had,  and  the  lectures 
were  suspended  for  the  day,  to  afford  the  Faculty  an 
opportunity  to  deliberate  on  the  measures  to  be  taken. 
From  the  steadily  increasing  violence  of  the  outrages  com- 
mitted ;  from  the  utter  rejection  of  all  efforts  of  the  well- 
disposed  students  to  stay  the  disorders ;  and  from  the 
unconcealed  design  on  the  part  of  the  rioters  to  compel  a 
premature  close  of  the  session,  by  continuing  the  riots,  and 
by  carrying  their  violence  even  to  greater  lengths,  the 
Faculty  were  satisfied  beyond  a  question  that  no  reasonable 
hope  remained  of  putting  an  end,  by  other  means,  to  the 
existing  disturbances,  and  therefore  determined,  after  tak- 
ing the  advice  of  eminent  counsel,  to  place  the  public 
property  under  the  protection  of  the  Civil  Authority.  This 
course  was  sustained  and  approved  by  the  two  members  of 
the  Executive  Committee  who  reached  the  University  on 
Monday. 

On  this  day  the  Justices  with  a  Jury  convened  at  the 
University  to  inquire  into  the  riots  of  which  it  was  the 
scene,  and  under  their  authority  the  Sheriff  of  the  County 
placed  a  guard  of  armed  citizens  at  the  Rotunda  during 
that  and  the  following  night.  On  Monday  morning,  in 
anticipation  of  the  meeting  of  the  Justices,  and  in  con- 
formity with  an  express  enactment,  notice  was  given  by  the 
Proctor  to  a  number  of  students  who,  there  was  reason  to 
believe,  were  themselves  concerned  in  the  disturbances,  or 
could  give  information  of  their  authors,  that  they  would 
be  summoned  to  appear  before  the  court  as  witnesses. 


APPENDIX.  417 

Whereupon  a  large  body  of  the  students  assembled  on 
Monday  morning,  and  adopted  resolutions  in  which  they 
plainly  avowed  their  determination  to  evade  the  Civil 
Authority  or  resist  it  as  far  as  possible.  These  resolutions 
they  handed  by  a  committee  to  the  Chairman  to  lay  before 
the  Faculty.  Being  without  signatures,  the  resolutions  were 
returned,  and  shortly  after  the  assemblage  of  students  from 
which  they  apparently  emanated,  dispersed  without  again 
presenting  them  ;  and  before  the  assembling  of  the  Justices, 
nearly  all  of  these  students  left  the  precincts  hi  order  to 
evade  the  civil  process,  remaining  absent  during  the  time 
the  Justices  were  in  session,  although  many  of  them  re- 
turned at  night. 

At  a  later  hour  on  Monday,  and  when  the  Justices  were 
hourly  expected  to  convene,  an  attempt  was  made  by  some 
gentlemen  of  Charlottesville  and  the  neighbourhood,  without 
any  communication  with  the  Faculty,  to  effect  an  arrange- 
ment by  which  the  interposition  of  the  Civil  Authority 
should  be  prevented;  and  with  this  view  a  meeting  of 
students,  amounting  according  to  the  highest  estimate  to 
some  seventy  in  number,  was  held  at  10  o'clock,  A.  M.,  and 
another  at  4  o'clock,  p.  M.  No  resolutions  adopted  under 
such  circumstances  and  with  the  number  present,  could 
have  afforded  any  guaranty  of  the  safety  of  the  public 
property  and  the  peace  of  the  University :  much  less  could 
they  secure  the  removal  from  the  Institution  of  those  who 
had  so  flagrantly  violated  its  laws  and  the  laws  of  the  land. 
But  none  were  formally  communicated  to  the  Justices,  and, 
although  induced  by  the  representations  made  to  them  to 
defer  their  meeting  until  the  afternoon,  they  found  no  good 
reason  to  believe  that  their  interposition  was  in  any  degree 
less  necessary  than  when  it  was  called  for.  On  the  same 
night,  a  meeting  of  students  was  held  and  a  pledge  signed 
by  a  considerable  number  to  withdraw  from  the  Univer- 
sity. To  this  course,  a  part  were  moved  most  probably  by 
the  conviction  to  which  they  were  brought  that  the  Civil 


418  APPENDIX. 

Authority  would  render  necessary  their  removal  from  the 
University,  and  they  were  glad  to  make  this  cover  to  their 
retreat.  Others,  it  is  believed,  acted  partly  from  the  per- 
suasion of  those  who  were  themselves  committed,  and  partly 
under  a  feeling  of  irritation  produced  by  the  disappoint- 
ment of  the  hopes  they  had  been  led  to  entertain  of 
preventing  the  interposition  of  the  Civil  Authority.  This 
pledge,  inconsiderately  made,  had  the  effect  of  carrying 
away  a  number  who  would  otherwise  have  gladly  remained. 
The  Board  of  Visitors  having  assembled  on  Wednesday, 
the  23d,  continued  their  session  through  the  following  day. 
After  a  full  inquiry  into  the  history  of  the  riots  and  pre- 
vious disturbances,  they  adopted  the  subjoined  resolutions, 
intended  to  mark  their  entire  concurrence  in  the  measures 
adopted  by  the  Faculty. 

"Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  Faculty 
through  their  Chairman  forthwith  to  address  to  the  parents 
and  guardians  of  the  students  of  the  University,  a  circular 
letter  setting  forth  a  brief  statement  of  events  connected 
with  the  recent  disturbances;  of  the  withdrawal  of  the 
Civil  Authority  from  the  precincts;  of  the  meeting  and 
adjournment  of  the  Visitors,  and  of  the  resumption  of  the 
lectures  and  exercises  of  the  Institution. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  Faculty,  in 
case  of  the  recurrence  of  scenes  similar  to  those  which  have 
recently  disturbed  the  peace  and  good  order  of  the  Uni- 
versity, to  endeavour  through  their  Chairman  to  concert 
such  measures  as  may  be  deemed  prudent  to  secure  the 
prompt  and  efficient  aid  of  the  Civil  Authority  in  pre- 
serving the  peace  and  protecting  the  property  of  the 
University." 

The  action  of  the  Civil  Authority  in  ordering  a  guard  to 
be  stationed  at  the  Rotunda,  having  been  followed  by  an 
immediate  cessation  of  the  riots,  and  the  disturbers  of  the 
peace  having  left  the  precincts,  the  continuance  of  the  guard 
was  no  longer  deemed  necessary  by  the  Justices,  and  it  was 


APPENDIX.  419 

accordingly  withdrawn  after  the  second  night.  The  lec- 
tures were  regularly  resumed  on  Friday  the  25th,  and  it  is 
expected  that  the  parents  and  guardians  of  such  students 
as  have  left  the  University  without  having  participated  in 
the  disturbances  or  other  acts  of  insubordination,  and  with- 
out evading  the  Civil  process,  will  cause  them  to  return, 
should  it  be  their  wish  that  they  shall  do  so,  at  the  earliest 
practicable  day. 

By  order  of  the  Faculty, 

WM.  B.  ROGERS,  Ch'm. 


APPENDIX  C.    (Page  259.) 

A  PLAN  FOB  A  POLYTECHNIC  SCHOOL  IN  BOSTON. 

1846. 

A  SCHOOL  of  practical  science  completely  organized 
should,  I  conceive,  embrace  full  courses  of  instruction  in  all 
the  principles  of  physical  truth  having  direct  relation  to  the 
art  of  constructing  machinery,  the  application  of  motive 
power,  manufactures,  mechanical  and  chemical,  the  art  of 
engraving  with  electrotype  and  photography,  mineral  explo- 
ration and  mining,  chemical  analysis,  engineering,  locomo- 
tion and  agriculture.  It  would  require  two  departments. 

First,  one  in  which  by  courses  of  lectures,  amply  illus- 
trated, a  broad  and  solid  foundation  should  be  laid  in 
general  physics,  including  especially  the  mechanics  of  solids, 
liquids  and  airs,  and  the  laws  of  heat,  electricity,  magnetism 
and  light,  and  in  the  chemistry  of  the  more  important 
inorganic  and  organic  principles.  Without  a  sufficient 
groundwork  of  this  kind  in  general  physical  laws,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  details  of  applied  science  would  have  but 
little  attraction,  and  being  but  vaguely  apprehended  would 
convey  very  little  valuable  instruction.  This  department 
would,  I  think,  give  employment  to  two  instructors,  divid- 
ing the  various  topics  between  them  as  might  be  found 
convenient,  and  perhaps  at  the  same  time  lecturing  on 
some  of  the  applied  branches,  as  portions  of  the  chemical 
arts,  the  strength  of  materials,  motive  powers,  the  steam 
engine,  or  any  of  the  practical  subjects  capable  of  being 
taught  in  lectures  with  the  aid  of  experiments,  models  and 
diagrams. 

The   other,   and    entirely   practical  department,   would 


APPENDIX.  421 

embrace  instruction  in  chemical  manipulation  and  the 
analysis  of  chemical  products,  ores,  metals  and  other  mate- 
rials used  in  the  arts,  as  well  as  of  soils  and  manures. 
Second,  —  A  course  of  practical,  elementary  mathematics, 
and  Third,  —  full  instruction  in  drawing  and  modelling. 
This  branch  should  also  include  special  courses  of  teaching 
in  architecture,  engineering  and  the  various  branches  of 
the  arts  not  treated  of  in  the  first  department.  This 
second  division  of  the  school  besides  employing  two  or 
three  tutors,  or  sub-professors,  to  give  personal  instruction 
in  the  laboratory,  workshop  or  room  for  drawing,  might 
yearly  invite  the  aid  of  eminent  practical  men  to  give 
courses  of  lectures  on  the  various  branches  of  applied 
science  not  otherwise  provided  for,  or  it  might  engage  the 
services  of  such  permanently  for  the  more  important  sub- 
jects after  a  trial  of  the  practical  benefits  of  their  collabora- 
tion. A  scheme  of  this  kind  begun  with  two  professors 
in  the  scientific  department  and  two  subordinate  instructors 
in  the  other,  under  the  direction  of  the  former,  would,  I 
am  certain,  prove  so  signally  successful  as  ultimately  to 
require  its  expansion  into  a  polytechnic  college  on  the  most 
ample  scale,  in  which,  along  with  all  the  subjects  above 
referred  to,  would  be  embraced  full  courses  in  elementary 
mathematics  and  instruction,  perhaps,  in  the  French  and 
German  languages.  In  a  word,  I  doubt  not  that  such  a 
nucleus-school  would,  with  the  growth  of  this  active  and 
knowledge-seeking  community,  finally  expand  into  a  great 
institution  comprehending  the  whole  field  of  physical  sci- 
ence and  the  arts  with  the  auxiliary  branches  of  the  mathe- 
matics and  modern  languages,  and  would  soon  overtop  the 
universities  of  the  land  in  the  accuracy  and  the  extent  of 
its  teachings  in  all  branches  of  positive  knowledge. 

According  to  my  present  notions  of  expediency  and 
usefulness,  the  two  professors  in  the  scientific,  or  more 
properly  the  mixed  department,  should  so  frame  their 
general  courses  of  lectures  as  to  make  them  acceptable 


422  APPENDIX. 

and  useful  to  the  public  at  large,  and  thus  furnish  annual 
courses  on  general  physics,  chemistry  and  geology,  which 
might  draw  all  the  lovers  of  knowledge  of  both  sexes  to 
the  halls  of  the  Institute,  whether  they  proposed  or  not> 
continuing  their  studies  in  the  other  and  directly  practical 
branches  of  the  Institution.  This,  of  course,  should  be,  as 
it  very  well  could  be,  done  without  any  sacrifice  of  the 
exactness  of  scientific  or  practical  demonstration  to  mere 
popular  effect.  We  know  how  successful  have  been  the 
courses  in  the  Royal  Institute  of  London,  where  Brandt, 
Faraday  and  Wheatstone  have  for  years  been  the  chief 
instructors  of  practical  science.  The  school  in  Boston,  too, 
might  well  adopt  the  valuable  practice  of  the  Royal  Insti- 
tute of  having  stated  lectures  for  diffusing  a  knowledge  of 
important  new  inventions  in  the  arts,  and  discourses  in 
physical  science.  By  so  doing  besides  the  general  benefit 
of  an  early  communication  of  valuable  truths,  often  so 
important  to  practical  men,  there  would  arise  the  special 
advantage  to  the  Institute  itself  of  a  reputation  for  being 
foremost  in  the  appreciation  and  promulgation  of  such  use- 
ful knowledge,  and  this  would  give  it  a  strong  claim  upon 
the  respect  and  affection  of  the  public.1 

The  true  and  only  practicable  object  of  a  polytechnic 
school  is,  as  I  conceive,  the  teaching,  not  of  the  minute 
details  and  manipulations  of  the  arts,  which  can  be  done 
only  in  the  workshop,  but  the  inculcation  of  those  scientific 
principles  which  form  the  basis  and  explanation  of  them, 
and  along  with  this  a  full  and  methodical  review  of  all 
their  leading  processes  and  operations  in  connection  with 
physical  laws.  When  thus  instructed  in  applied  science, 
the  mechanician,  chemist,  manufacturer  or  engineer  clearly 
comprehends  the  agencies  of  the  materials  and  instruments 
with  which  he  works,  and  is,  therefore,  saved  from  the 

1  The  six  paragraphs  (and  one  sentence)  next  folio-wing1  have  al- 
ready been  given  on  pp.  260-262,  but  are  here  introduced  in  their 
proper  connection. 


APPENDIX.  423 

disasters  of  blind  experiment,  is  guided  securely  because 
understandingly  in  a  profitable  routine,  and  is  directed  in 
the  contrivance  of  new  and  more  efficient  combinations. 
We  cannot  but  believe  that,  with  a  proper  training  in 
science,  the  host  of  unprofitable  inventors,  living  within  the 
last  half  century,  would  have  contributed  innumerable 
valuable  aids  to  human  industry,  and  advanced  the  arts  to 
a  far  higher  stage  of  improvement  than  they  have  yet 
attained.  Of  this  no  stronger  argument  could  be  asked 
than  a  glance  at  the  encumbered  cases  of  the  Patent  Office 
in  Washington. 

Indeed,  the  unexampled  progress,  both  here  and  in 
Europe,  of  every  branch  of  the  arts  for  the  last  fifty  years 
is  but  the  result  of  that  general  diffusion  of  a  better 
knowledge  of  physical  laws  which  has  flowed  from  the 
researches  and  teachings  of  men  specially  devoted  to 
natural  science ;  bearing  in  mind  too,  how  few  of  the 
almost  countless  products  of  ingenuity,  even  in  these  times, 
are  of  real  and  permanent  value  and  how  immense  the 
number  of  utterly  barren  inventions,  the  laboured  con- 
trivances of  acute  but  undirected  or  misguided  mind. 

Among  practical  pursuits  there  are,  perhaps,  none  whose 
dependence  upon  the  determination  of  physical  science  is 
more  generally  recognized  than  those  of  the  machinist,  the 
engineer  and  the  architect.  Yet  even  in  these  professions, 
while  all  admit  that  many  of  the  details  are  but  immediate 
applications  of  the  leading  laws  of  mechanical  philosophy, 
how  few  have  formed  a  just  conception  of  the  variety  and 
extent  of  science  they  involve. 

In  the  first  place,  the  materials  used  in  construction 
must  be  studied  in  their  more  important  chemical  and 
mechanical  relations.  Kules  must  be  applied  for  comput- 
ing the  strength  of  beams  and  columns  of  timber  and 
metal  of  various  shapes  and  dimensions,  and  placed  in 
various  attitudes  within  buildings  or  machinery,  and  these 
cannot  be  safely  used  without  a  knowledge  of  the  experi- 


424  APPENDIX. 

mental  data  and  mechanical  principles  from  which  they 
have  been  deduced.  So  likewise  in  resolving  the  often 
recurring  problem  of  the  distribution  of  forces  to  the 
several  parts  of  a  structure  as  dependent  on  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  parts  and  the  position  of  the  load,  or  other 
pressure,  the  necessity  for  scientific  principles  is  immedi- 
ate and  unavoidable.  Of  the  durability  of  the  materials 
employed  in  masonry,  it  is  evident  that  no  confident  judg- 
ment can  be  formed  without  a  knowledge  of  their  compo- 
sition and  of  the  chemical  action  to  which  they  are  liable 
from  air,  water  and  thermal  changes.  The  machinist 
should  understand  all  the  principles  of  equilibrium  and  of 
the  composition  of  forces ;  in  other  words,  the  general  doc- 
trines of  statics  and  dynamics,  those  of  friction  and  resist- 
ing forces  generally,  the  mode  of  operation  of  the  various 
motive  powers  of  which  his  machines  are  to  be,  as  it  were, 
conductors,  and  the  methods  of  computing  the  relation 
between  the  force  applied  and  the  useful  effect  obtained,  or 
in  other  words  the  economical  value  of  the  combination. 

The  engineer  of  roads  and  canals  with  ample  knowledge 
in  all  these  particulars  should  further  have  a  good  acquaint- 
ance with  the  mineral  and  geological  character  of  the 
region  in  which  he  operates,  should  know  when  to  interpret 
the  appearances  on  the  surface  either  as  an  encouragement 
or  warning  in  directing  his  locations ;  should  be  prepared 
to  judge  of  the  value  of  the  rocky  materials  he  encounters 
in  building  an  embankment,  and  should  be  qualified  to 
form  an  estimate  of  the  relative  advantages  of  different 
districts  as  influenced  by  the  extent  and  nature  of  these 
mineral  products. 

Instruction  in  all  these  and  other  kindred  particulars, 
essential  as  it  is  to  the  fullest  success  in  the  pursuits 
referred  to,  involves,  it  will  be  seen,  no  insignificant  ac- 
quaintance with  some  of  the  leading  branches  of  mechani- 
cal and  even  geological  and  chemical  science. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  manufacturing  arts,  we  shall  find 


APPENDIX.  425 

an  equal  and,  in  many  cases,  even  more  urgent  demand  for 
scientific  guidance.1  Beginning  with  those  connected  with 
metallurgy,  we  see  in  the  various  processes  by  which  iron, 
copper,  lead,  zinc,  silver  and  other  metals  are  obtained 
from  their  ores  the  most  direct  application  of  chemical  and 
mechanical  science.  The  form  and  materials  of  the  furnace, 
the  character  of  the  fuel  and  flame,  the  preparatory  pro- 
cesses of  roasting,  or  washing,  the  due  modification  of  the 
procedures  according  to  the  nature  and  proportion  of  the 
foreign  substances  present,  with  numerous  other  practical 
details  in  the  various  stages  of  the  operation,  are  only  intel- 
ligible through  the  medium  of  scientific  principles,  and  are 
most  likely  to  be  successfully  pursued,  or  improved,  when 
these  principles  are  clearly  understood  and  habitually  re- 
curred to.  So  also  in  the  fabrication  of  steel  and  the 
mixed  metals,  such  as  brass,  bronze  and  tinned  iron,  and 
in  casting,  rolling,  wire  drawing  and  other  mechanical  and 
chemical  processes  of  the  same  kind,  the  truths  of  science  have 
many  important  applications,  and  are  capable  of  affording 
suggestions  of  high  utility.  In  gilding,  plating  and  the 
processes  of  electrotype,  in  engraving  in  all  its  branches, 
including  lithography,  zincography  and  the  various  depart- 
ments of  photographic  art,  we  see  the  most  varied  agencies 
of  physical  laws,  involving  the  mechanical  properties  of 
materials,  their  relations  to  solvents,  and  the  powers  of 
heat  and  light.  In  the  fabrication  of  pottery  and  porcelain 
in  all  the  varieties,  and  in  the  colouring  and  painting  of 
both  these  classes  of  products,  every  step  is  but  an  applica- 
tion of  some  well-known  scientific  principle. 

Of  the  refining  of  sugar  and  the  manufacturing  of  alum, 
copperas,  white  lead,  bleaching  salts,  the  acids,  and  a 
hundred  other  important  chemical  products,  it  is  needless 
to  say  more  than  that  the  processes  they  involve  are  but 
the  vast  practical  enlargement  of  the  common  experiments 
1  See  p.  262.  The  letter  there  begun  is  here  continued. 


426  APPENDIX. 

of  the  laboratory  and  lecture-room.  The  production  of 
illuminating  gas  from  coal,  fats  or  rosin,  and  the  processes 
for  its  purification,  the  manufacture  of  stearine,  wood 
vinegar,  and  all  the  whole  variety  of  soaps,  the  purification 
of  oils,  the  making  of  cements  and  varnishes,  the  arts  of 
tanning,  bleaching,  dyeing  and  calico  printing,  with  a  hun- 
dred others  extensively  practised  at  the  present  day,  are 
either  the  direct  results  of  modern  scientific  research,  or 
are  largely  indebted  to  it  for  those  experiments  in  mechan- 
ical and  chemical  details  which  have  bestowed  on  many  of 
them  a  more  than  hundred-fold  productiveness.  So  clearly 
indeed  has  the  importance  of  a  scientific  guidance  been 
proved  in  some  of  these  arts,  that  we  now  in  many  cases 
see  them  claiming  the  superintendence  of  skilful  chemists 
to  direct  their  daily  operations,  and  I  need  not  add  that 
the  fruits  of  this  happy  union  of  science  and  art  are 
nowhere  better  exemplified  than  in  the  dyeing  and  printing 
works  for  which  Lowell  has  been  so  celebrated. 

In  the  various  forms  of  mechanism  devoted  to  spinning 
and  weaving  in  all  their  branches,  in  mill  work  of  almost 
endless  variety,  in  the  steam  engine,  as  applied  to  stationary 
or  locomotive  uses,  in  water  wheels,  turbines,  propellers  and 
the  innumerable  forms  of  hydraulic  and  hydro-pneumatic 
machinery,  we  have  almost  numberless  applications  of  the 
laws  of  mechanics,  which  those  only  who  clearly  under- 
stand can  guide  or  improve  to  the  best  advantage. 

In  the  business  of  mining  in  all  departments,  including 
that  of  exploration  on  the  surface  and  by  borings,  every 
important  step  calls  for  the  suggestions  of  geology,  chemis- 
try and  mechanical  science. 

To  close  this  long  but  still  incomplete  catalogue  of  illus- 
trations, we  may  safely  affirm  that  there  is  no  branch  of 
practical  industry,  whether  in  the  arts  of  construction, 
manufactures  or  agriculture,  which  is  not  capable  of  being 
better  practised,  and  even  of  being  improved  in  its  pro- 
cesses, through  the  knowledge  of  its  connections  with 


APPENDIX.  427 

physical  truths  and  laws,  and  therefore  we  would  add  that 
there  is  no  class  of  operatives  to  whom  the  teaching  of 
science  may  not  become  of  direct  and  substantial  utility 
and  material  usefulness.  It  would,  I  think,  be  especially 
adapted  to  fulfil  another,  and  in  some  respects  a  higher 
purpose  by  leading  the  thoughts  of  the  practical  student 
into  those  wide  and  elevated  regions  of  reflection  to  which 
the  study  of  Nature's  laws  never  fails  to  conduct  the  mind. 
Thus  linking  the  daily  details  of  his  profession  with  the 
grander  physical  agencies  around  him,  and  with  much  of 
what  is  agreeable  and  ennobling  in  the  contemplation 
of  external  things,  it  would  insensibly  elevate  and  refine 
his  character  and  contribute  to  the  cheerfulness  as  it  aided 
the  efficiency  of  his  labours.  In  this  respect  it  is,  I  think, 
demonstrated  that  physical  studies  are  better  capable  of 
being  useful  to  the  operative  classes  than  the  study  of  lit- 
erature or  morals,  because  their  truths  are  more  readily 
and  eagerly  seized  upon  by  such  minds  and  form  the 
strong  staple  of  practical  usefulness  thus  firmly  infixed. 
It  is  easy  to  extend  the  golden  chain  of  relations  until  these 
may  embrace  every  realm  of  nature  and  of  thought. 

A  polytechnic  school,  therefore,  duly  organized,  has  in 
view  an  object  of  the  utmost  practical  value,  and  one  which 
in  such  a  community  as  that  of  Boston  could  not  fail  of 
being  realized  in  the  amplest  degree. 


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